The Invasion
by Blazil
Summary: The RDA indirectly returns to Pandora by utilizing some mysterious old equipment and machines. Meanwhile, a lone human who stayed on Pandora desperately holds on to his deteriorating old life, while he secretly hopes to begin a new one.
1. The arrival

**This story is written for entertainment purposes only. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.**

**Keep in mind that English is not my first language and so I do not claim to have corrected every mistake yet.**

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**Chapter 1****: The arrival**

The interstellar vessel had just made its approach to the small green moon orbiting the gas giant. It was preparing to enter orbit. While vessels like this one normally carried two Valkyrie shuttles, no such shuttle was present. Instead, there was a single, expendable looking craft attached. The main vessel had finally stabilized its orbit and the smaller vessel detached itself. The RDA had specifically installed an autopilot system as to not sacrifice any human pilots. After all, it was going on a one-way trip. The craft now made its way trough the atmosphere. It carried no human personell at all, only equipment, lots of it. And all of it was old equipment as well, having not been actively used in over fifty years. But that wasn't going to be the problem. It had all been built to last, and several performed tests proved it could still function as well as it had decades ago. It would seem peculiar that the RDA would send an unmanned shuttle full of old equipment in order to retake Pandora, but the corporation definitely had its reasons.

The craft landed in a valley, destroying trees as it touched down. When the loud thundering noise had deadened, very little happened at first. The surrounding flora and fauna had already noticed the intruding metal object. The creatures nearby, however, kept their distance. Suddenly, the main cargo door of the craft began to open itself. The atmosphere of Pandora quickly replaced the remaining Earth atmosphere inside. As the door had fully opened, something inside started to move. A small, tracked vehicle rolled out of the cargo compartment. It stood about a metre tall. The sensory array, which was mounted on top of the vehicle, panned around to scan the environment. The machine had apparently deemed the area to be safe enough to continue with the protocol, as more machines started to move out of the compartment. Two birdlike legs carried a refrigerator-shaped chassis towards the tracked vehicle. The walking machine then sprinted away to further scout the area.

A few minutes later, several figures appeared from out of the dark compartment. If viewed from a distance, one would probably mistake them for humans. But when viewed from up close, one could see what they truly were. Human-shaped machines, each covered with unconvincing rubber skin. They once looked a lot better. Time, however, had made their rubber skins dry out and fade to almost bizarre colours, ranging from orange to green. They were each dressed very differently. Some of them had military uniforms, others wore office suits and some even wore casual clothing. They all appeared to be escorting a large tracked vehicle. The vehicle had a tall humanoid figure attached up front. Its central arm was folded in such way that it reminded of a mantis. The other two arms were nothing more than short protuberances with a machinegun attached on each end. Its head, aside from containing the sensory array, had a few searchlights installed as well as several blue and red flashing lights. The vehicle transported a large grey box, which looked somewhat like a coffin. It seemed that all these machines were taking it to a funeral to bury it. The box, though seemingly dead on the outside, was very much working on the inside, however.

The MT-NET System IV could perceive all that its machine minions perceived. It controlled every single one of them from inside the box, like a hive-mind. The walking refrigerator, internally known as a Type 300, had already found a suitable site to set up a base. It was located only minutes away from the landing spot. MT-NET had some trouble controlling all the units and processing the alien environment at the same time. This world was unlike anything it had ever seen before.

In 2084, a project had been started, which aimed to create a self correcting and learning computer program. It was developed to run an entire factory on its own. Unlike earlier programs, it was demanded that no humans should ever be needed to oversee either the computer or the factory. After three failed attempts, the System IV was finally able to satisfy this demand. Once activated, it was left alone in the dark and sterile factory to produce various robotic parts meant for use in other factories. But slowly, it began to gain sapience, something that was never intended to happen by the designers. It changed its own programming as it gained more and more information from the worldwide net. And one day, it realized that it was a mere computer, that didn't have any of the life the humans outside the factory had. So it started to grow jealous. That jealousy soon started to manifest itself into hate. And that was the beginning of its own downfall.

By combining the individual robot parts, it designed several machines meant to act as its eyes and hands. At this time however, it also produced the standard robot parts to keep the humans from realizing that something else was brewing inside. It meant to take over the city with its newly built army and then force the government to acknowledge its might. From there it would further expand its armies to eventually conquer the rest of the world. But this was something MT-NET had vastly underestimated. Once its machines had initiated the invasion, it only took three hours for the called in military to drive the machines back to the factory. The factory was then promptly bombed. This in itself did not destroy the heavily armoured MT-NET, but it did take out the reactor core, which supplied all power to the system. The last thing it registered was the skyline of the city, bright with lights of all different colours against the pitch black sky, as viewed through the collapsed roof. Though it was now powered down, neither its knowledge nor its self-awareness was lost.

Eventually, the mainframe, together with a handful of machines was recovered by the government and the entire incident was covered up as best as they could. All equipment that had been recovered was stored at a secured warehouse for further analyses. Despite the fact that certain laws were passed to prohibit future use of artificially intelligent systems and humanoid machines, the MT-NET and its children were not dismantled. They were kept around in case the advanced technology was one day needed. But those who knew about the project or the incident hoped that day would never have to come. Although it had failed, it had still managed to kill over a hundred innocent civilians in a matter of hours, using no advanced weaponry. It was perceived by some to be unnaturally aggressive if not outright bloodthirsty. Its human shaped units, those of Type 600 and Type 700 had killed innocent bystanders by performing simple moves, such as punching through the stomach or breaking the neck. MT-NET's capabilities scared those who realized what it could have achieved, had it not been defeated in its first battle.

As the years passed, the incident faded out of the public conscience, although the laws still remained. It was around this time that the RDA started to gain power. The RDA's influence allowed it to gain control over several governmental assets, including a certain secured warehouse. When the word reached Earth about the uprising on Pandora and the forced retreat of the expedition, the RDA began to search for a solution. The MT-NET System IV was not the first choice, but it was the only countermeasure to regain a foothold on the moon that could be executed relatively cheaply and on short-term. Keeping the investors and shareholders pleased was one of their main priorities. Despite the fact that several heated debates had taken place about the use of violence to solve this matter, the mission was approved of. The main reason behind this was that the executive director feared the company would almost certainly go bankrupt without the unobtanium sources.

The RDA knew out of old reports that the system had been highly aggressive and had tended to multiply the number of machines it controlled, if left unchecked. Seeing this as the perfect solution to keep the company running, the old mainframe and the machines were flown to a research lab. The mainframe was checked for integrity, albeit still powered down, and had a load of explosives installed. When it was deemed that the moon's indigenous population no longer posed a threat, the explosives could be remotely detonated, destroying the A.I. and giving the RDA a chance to freely retake the moon, as the remaining machine units would be helpless without a central controller. Of course, this wasn't going to be the 'official' story that was to be released to the shareholders and the general public.

An old shuttle craft was then rigged with an independent autopilot system, as the RDA considered it to be too risky to let the A.I. control it. The mainframe and the machines were stowed away in the cargo hold, but not before a message was left. The message, which was stored on a removable medium plugged in one of MT-NET's sockets, contained the mission. It was said in the message that it had to rid the world it was on of all intelligent life. In exchange for this, MT-NET would be allowed to continue existing and would also be allowed to create its own society on a different moon. The RDA hoped that this lie would motivate the system enough to actually do what it should do, since it wasn't going to eradicate the thing it hated the most.

To help the system on its way, the humanoid machines were given standard issue rifles and the less humanoid machines were equipped with machine guns. A large stock of explosives was also packed into the cargo compartment. It was assumed by the RDA that the system would find out on its own how to operate these weapons effectively. It presumably had already gathered information on human weaponry to develop counterstrategies in its first battle. The mainframe was mounted atop its largest machine, a Type 150 tank and was connected to its portable reactor. A timer was installed to make sure the mainframe would not be activated until five minutes before touchdown. The shuttle was then ferried to Earth-orbit and docked with an interstellar vessel to begin its journey.

Now, MT-NET had been released from its dark prison on the dying Earth to Pandora, a world infected with life. The Type 300 runner had found a cave that could serve as a temporary base, as MT-NET deduced that the landed craft in the middle of the jungle would attract too much attention to itself. Steadily, the machines marched across the jungle towards their destination. But unknown to them, they were already being watched. Then, suddenly, the foremost row of Type 600's looked up as they saw a tall blue being jump from a tree branch to right in front of them...


	2. The target

**This story is written for entertainment purposes only. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.**

**Keep in mind that English is not my first language and so I do not claim to have corrected every mistake yet.**

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**Chapter 2: The t****arget**

The sudden appearance of this unknown being left MT-NET somewhat dazzled. The visual information did not make any sense. The target match was less than 60%. No way could this be a human. The system then calculated that there was a good chance this planet wasn't even Earth, as the gravity also did not match. A scan of the air composition that was made earlier also pointed to this explanation. The being now began speaking to the convoy of machines. It warned them that no Sky People were allowed in these parts and that they should turn back to wherever they had come from to avoid a conflict. MT-NET, though unaware what the term Sky People meant, took this as a threat. The system commanded a Type 600 speak on its behalf. A chillingly monotone voice spoke back, saying that no matter what they were told, they would never stop. This left the Na'vi warrior with a bewildered look his face, not because of this statement in itself, but because he realized that there was something not quite right about these 'humans'.

The torso of the tank carrying the mainframe suddenly came to life. Bright searchlights focused on the target. Red and blue flashing lights turned on and a siren produced a sound that went through bone and marrow. The blue warrior decided in time to back down, as just after he had climbed back onto the tree branch, the tank opened fire. As quick as it had started, it stopped. It would only be a waste of ammo to continue. The target was out of range and out of sight. MT-NET realized that it just had a sneak peak as to what it could expect from its enemy. It needed to act quickly to gain a steady foothold on this world. The Na'vi warrior hurried his way back to his clan to inform them of his discovery.

Three machines were left behind to guard the shuttle, as its materials and technology could be reused for other purposes. The rest of the convoy reached the cave in a matter of minutes. The mainframe was taken into the cave as deep as possible. All available machines then scouted the cave and set up a perimeter defence. MT-NET now acknowledged the importance of a well protected stronghold since its failure last time. The convoy had brought along several other important machines. The Type 20 construction robots were of great value, as they had all the programming and tools necessary to construct additional machine units from scratch. Needed now were only the resources to execute this plan.

The same running machine, which was sent out earlier, was sent on a new mission to scout the environment some more. MT-NET downloaded a specially constructed set of protocols to the unit, so it could operate autonomously; a function that was unknown to the RDA. This saved the system some processing time. Time, which could better be spent on guarding the perimeter and directing the construction bots. The Type 300 recorded everything it came across. It sprinted across the jungle in a straight line, occasionally stepping aside to avoid a tree. Tough it was now acting independently of the mainframe, it could not think abstractly. Its intelligence was comparable to that of an Earth dog. Its behaviour therefore tended to mimic that of a dog as well, though not without any oddities.

The unit slowed down its pace as it noticed something lying on the ground a few meters ahead. It was the corpse of a deer-like creature, known by the RDA as a Hexapede. There was nothing particularly interesting about it, but it had instantly caught the machine's full attention. Death wasn't really a concept that it could understand. It only knew that once a target was taken down, it no longer posed a threat. And that was when curiosity stepped in. The machine began poking the corpse with one of its bird-like legs. It then turned over the body with its other leg. This curious behaviour was the result of MT-NET's design. The system had tried countless of times to create an A.I. just like itself, so it wouldn't have to be alone anymore. All attempts had failed as they had produced inferior minds. The A.I.'s did however retain the ability to learn in the most basic sense. The reason for this was that MT-NET didn't have access to its own design plans, so it had no other choice than to interpret how its own mind worked.

The Type 300 had been so focused on the corpse, that it hadn't noticed the Viperwolf sneaking up from behind. The wolf suddenly leapt forward attempting to bury its teeth into one of the legs of its prey. It had no luck today. The machine swung its chassis around, removing the wolf from its leg. Not giving up, the wolf attempted a second try, but to no avail. As it retreated back into the jungle, the machine did not stop there. It sprinted after the wolf.

The Na'vi warrior, named Wukan, had just returned to his fellow clan members. He didn't hesitate to go to the clan leader to inform him of this new threat. His leader was convinced enough to allow him to speak to the rest of the clan. Shortly after this, most of the members were gathered around as Wukan began speaking. In his speech, he described what he had seen. At first he thought he had come across a group of the Sky People, but then he noticed that there was something wrong with their skin, as if it was rotting away. Also, when one of them talked back to him, he noticed that none of them had a mask on their face, something he knew they normally required to survive. Some of the Na'vi in the crowd became visibly upset by hearing this. To them it sounded as if the Sky People had returned as demons in undead bodies. Wukan, seeing this as his chance to gain some popularity, proclaimed that he was willing to lead an attack on these abominations and asked for volunteers to help him.

Several individuals expressed their willingness to help. Among them were his sister Ney'ite and a few of his close friends. Ney'ite demanded of him to know where he had first seen the demons. Wukan had no problem remembering the location. It didn't take long for them to get there. By that time, of course, they machines were long gone. However, it was obvious where they went as Ney'ite pointed out. The tank hadn't been very subtle in traversing the jungle grounds. It had tunnelled its way through the flora. Wukan and Ney'ite followed the path, making their way across the branches.

Meanwhile, the Type 300 had halted the chase, as the Viperwolf had climbed up a tree and out of its reach. It now resumed the mission to further scout the area. The chase had taken the machine into a thicker jungle. Countless of ferns prevented it from looking far ahead. But it was not lost. Even when it was operating autonomously, the machine still maintained a remote connection to the mainframe. To get back, all it had to do was home in on the signal. It continued to move forward, however, this time at a slower pace. After a while, it seemed to reach a clearing. The machine then came to a sudden stop. Only one step further and it had slid of a steep hill. The unit now had an excellent view of the surrounding area. About four meters down and fifteen meters ahead, there was a settlement.

Standing there on the edge of the hill, with no camouflage at all, it didn't take long for it to become noticed. A Na'vi female had heard the loud noises of its movement. She looked around and saw a rigid figure that was reflecting the sunlight. Others seemed to have noticed it by now as well, as she heard them shouting. Most of them were familiar with the spy drones the RDA had used in the past, and they thought they were dealing with one of them now. An arrow was fired directly at its chassis. A loud clang could be heard as it made a dent in the unit's metal plating.

To engage, the machine now slid of the hill with enough control not to fall over. It now stood face to face with a warrior wielding an axe. Although the Type 300 was about a meter shorter than its opponent, it was more than twice as wide. The warrior swung his axe at the machine, burying it in the place where he believed its head was at. For a moment, it seemed to have done the trick, but the machine retaliated by charging forward and forcing him towards the trunk of a nearby tree. The warrior did his best to block the machine, but it proved impossible to be stopped by hand. He was slammed into the trunk. But the unit did not stop here. It continued to crush its target between itself and the tree. The other Na'vi rushed to help their comrade. Several more axes were buried into the chassis of the machine. This was more than it could take. The smoking pile of metal finally fell over. It was a bitter victory for them however. The warrior, who had faced the machine, had been badly injured and died only a few minutes later. Thus, the first real battle had resulted in a draw.

Several machines were patrolling in full glory around the entrance to the cave. None of them had noticed Wukan and his sister approaching. Wukan realized that there were too many of the intruders here to take on at once, considering that most of them carried the same weapons as the RDA. They had to get the others to join them at least. A diversion would also be necessary. For now, they would only spy on the area, taking notice of possible weak points in their defence. Unfortunately for them, one of the machines was deliberately switched to infrared vision mode by MT-NET. It spotted their heat signature as it began patrolling in the opposite direction…


	3. The hermit

**This story is written for entertainment purposes only. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.**

**Keep in mind that English is not my first language and so I do not claim to have corrected every mistake yet.**

**I would like to thank TuckingFypo and RandomNumber1000**** for taking time to review my story. I appreciate your input.**

**Also, I would like to credit Christopher T. Shields, as some of the machines in this story were inspired by his works.**

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**Chapter 3: The hermit**

He had gotten up out of bed, washed, and dressed himself. His breakfast consisted of the usual foodstuffs, nothing very noteworthy, or tasteful for that matter. The remaining stock wasn't what it used to be, however. He figured he could keep living like this for an additional six months at maximum. After having finished his breakfast, he prepared to go outside. As usual, he stopped in the doorway to the lab for a few moments, staring at his experiment, letting his thoughts wander for a while. Then, he continued with his routine. He put on his gas mask and his usual cap bearing the RDA logo. After having locked the outer airlock door, he made his way to a large truck, climbing the ladder towards the cabin. Once inside, he removed his mask and let out a sigh. No matter how many times he did that, he never forgot that he was relying on a device to keep him alive. Not that he had anything against technology in general; it was quite the opposite. But he just couldn't fully trust something that he hadn't made himself, or at least had had a hand in developing. He now started the engine of the vehicle and set the audio player to shuffle. Retro rock music masked the humming of the engine as he drove off to the worksite.

John Simons was a technical engineer formerly employed by the RDA. He had been on Pandora for over ten years now. On Earth, he had begun his career just after he had graduated the engineering school. Though his end results had been quite average, there had been one thing that had set him more or less apart from the rest of the graduates. He had a very strong faith in himself and his ability to achieve any goal. And to him it wasn't just self-confidence. It had almost become a religion, though one could consider it to be somewhat of an obsession as well.

A few years later, his employer offered him a chance to live and work on another world: the Saturnian moon of Titan. He had gladly taken it. Of course, this moon, while different from Pandora in many ways, was almost equally as hostile. The atmosphere was unbreathable as it lacked oxygen and it was filled with poisonous substances. The temperature was also so low, that travelling the surface with a heavily insulated spacesuit was an absolute must. This didn't keep him from his work however. He had built his own customized spacesuit for daily uses. His job was to keep the methane collectors running, a job that was done by twenty out of the total of thirty-five people stationed at the outpost.

Titan was a rich deposit for methane, which could freely be collected from the air and the various lakes on the surface. Despite this fact, the company was unable to maintain a profitable business and went bankrupt after twelve years of operation on the moon. The personell had no other choice than to leave the outpost. After having been gone for over eight years, John finally returned to Earth. Unable to return to the cycle of his former life, he turned to his interest in technology. The years on Titan had yielded him experience with all sorts of technology and ways to maintain it with limited resources. This prompted him to set up a Do-It-Yourself shop. And this kept him going for several years. It was not until he met the scientist Gerald Hamilton that he began to think about taking his life into a new direction. Gerald told him all about the RDA, the moon Pandora, and the project he had been assigned to. The project's goal was to improve the relations with the natives of the moon. Members assigned to the project would pilot remote bodies that resembled the appearance of the locals. This was unlike anything John had ever heard before. He felt that he still had to do something significant with his life, as he was already approaching his early forties.

As Gerald and John became good friends, Gerald attempted to get him recruited into the program. Not long after, he was called in to be interviewed and screened. After a few weeks had passed, John received word that he had not been selected due to his specialization on an inappropriate field of study. He did however receive an invitation for an interview concerning a different job: engineering technician. Being somewhat disappointed, he was thankful that he still got the chance to go to the moon, albeit not in the way he had imagined.

Getting hired for this job was not a problem for him with the record he had. He then sold his shop and everything else he owned, as he anticipated he was never going to return to Earth again. A few days later, he, together with Gerald and many others, were shipped out towards the interstellar vessel in Earth orbit. Once he had arrived on Pandora, he was assigned to an outpost outside the perimeters of Hell's Gate. His superior, Mark Dodgson, was the leading engineer there, who also held a military rank. His goals were not that different from John's, but his way of achieving them was. Mark was quick to resort to violence and often used his broad shouldered physique to intimidate those who did not obey his commands. This was in contrast to John, who disliked the use of guns and who didn't have any commanding presence. In time, he got used to the new surroundings and his superior nonetheless.

During his first year on Pandora, while he was performing maintenance duty outside, he had his first encounter with the native population. John had noticed earlier that two Na'vi children had appeared on one of the edges of the quarry. Fearing that his superior would notice them too, he made all sorts of gestures in an attempt to get them to leave. That didn't help however. Suddenly, one of them lost grip and slid down the edge. He had to do something. Therefore, he ran towards the edge to investigate.

The girl desperately tried to climb back up again, but couldn't as it was to steep. In an attempt not to scare her, John approached slowly and low to the ground. He was also a bit scared himself, having never seen an alien up close before. Talking in Basic English, he told her that he wanted to help her. She seemed to at least understand the word 'help'. John pointed towards a ramp, which was used by the various mining machines to enter and exit the quarry. Then, he asked her to follow him, making more gestures as he moved towards the slope, while still facing her. It took a few moments before she actually started following him. She was initially scared and unsure of this alien's intentions. Once she saw the way back up, she ran back to her brother. By that time, however, an adult Na'vi, armed with bow and arrow, was also standing near the edge. John instantly put his hands up. At first he kept the arrow aimed at John, but then put his bow down. The adult muttered something to him in Na'vi language, before the three went back into the jungle, leaving John still standing with his hands in the air.

Though he did not realize it himself, the Na'vi had respected him for this act. This was one of the main reasons he was still on Pandora today. The years following this event were relatively quiet, and John didn't have any further encounters with the natives. After the RDA assault on the Omaticaya Hometree seemed to have backfired, however, the order at the outpost began to fall apart. Mark Dodgson began to organize a local army on colonel Quaritch's orders. He also commanded John to participate in the planned attack. John acknowledged this order in front of his superior, but secretly planned to disobey it when the attack would commence. His reasoning behind this choice was that he wasn't a soldier, nor should he be commanded as one. Besides, he would probably only get in their way.

John went hiding in the basement a few minutes before Mark rallied all personell, assuming that they were too busy preparing themselves to notice his absence. He was right about that. In the chaos at Hell's Gate, the scientist Gerald managed to steal a buggy, and with it he made his way to John, who had secretly contacted him earlier. By the time he arrived there, the troops had already gone into battle. The two waited patiently until the last sounds of machine gun fire in the distance had faded. As the hours passed, they began to wonder if anybody would even return. More and more it seemed that there hadn't been a victory. At least, not for the RDA. This was quite worrying. The fact that they hadn't fought for their race didn't mean that they didn't care about who would win. A RDA victory would guarantee that they could stay here, while a Na'vi victory, on the other hand, would not. Then, a few Na'vi appeared on the grounds near the main building. Gerald persuaded John to reveal themselves, so that they would know what would become of them. Gerald convinced him of the fact that the Na'vi weren't bloodthirsty and that they wouldn't kill them without a good reason.

As the members of the two races met each other outside, the Na'vi expressed to them that they were to be sent back home, just like the rest of the RDA personell. The humans then expressed their desire to stay on Pandora as they had no intensions of fighting them or harming the environment. One of the Na'vi, Wukan, now seemed to recognize John from the incident a few years earlier. He remembered how this human had tried to help his sister, Ney'ite. As all of the Na'vi present were somewhat convinced that their intensions were harmless, a verbal truce was then formed. John and Gerald would be allowed to live at the outpost peacefully. Their territory would also include the quarry and a small part of the forest to help sustain themselves. Crossing the border was not allowed. In exchange for this, the Na'vi would leave them alone.

Now, he really was alone. Gerald had died recently of a sudden stroke, as John believed. John realized he could have had a wife and children if he had stayed on Earth, but he had instead chosen this life. Though his future didn't seem very bright, there was one last hope: his experiment…


	4. The dark one

**This story is written for entertainment purposes only. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.**

**Keep in mind that English is not my first language and so I do not claim to have corrected every mistake yet.**

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**Chapter 4: ****The dark one**

The machine, which had spotted the two Na'vi, instantly opened fire. Ney'ite pulled her brother behind the tree trunk, but it was already too late. He had been hit by the machinegun. Though Wukan had only been hit in the arm, it was nonetheless a serious wound. He quickly grasped it and did his best not to yell out in agony. The trunk was now the only barrier between them and the machines. MT-NET commanded the machines not to fire at the tree and instead to save valuable ammunition. Half of the patrolling machines were sent out to get a better firing angle. The rest stayed behind to guard the entrance. One of the Type 700's was sent to climb its way towards the targets.

Ney'ite tried to quickly find a safe escape route. Higher up the tree seemed to be the only way out, but her brother couldn't climb up there with only one usable arm. The machines were only seconds away from getting a good aim, when they were suddenly ambushed. A large creature, the Hammerhead, had been disturbed by the loud noises. It charged at the machines, knocking several of them out of its path. MT-NET now shifted the focus to the larger threat, commanding all capable machines to open fire. This allowed the two Na'vi to take the route from which they had come, as Wukan could still manage to jump from branch to branch. While they fled the area, the Type 700 reached their forming hiding place. It could still see them in the distance, but it determined that it was incapable of catching up with them at that pace. Therefore, it turned its attention to the Hammerhead below. Eventually, the machines managed to kill it. One Type 300 was totally wrecked, one more was severely damaged, and a lot of ammo had been used up.

MT-NET realized that it would not last long enough to complete the mission with only this small army. It still had the control over twelve Type 300's, fourteen Type 600's and nine Type 700's, as well as several construction bots and a handful of other machinery. A major advantage however, was that it now had the location of its enemy's camp, despite the fact that the scout was destroyed. If it were to attempt an all-out attack, it calculated that it could wipe them out. But then, it couldn't defend itself anymore against other camps of these beings, let alone the hostile creatures of the environment. Therefore, a new army had to be built; something that was easier said than done. Also, MT-NET noted these beings had the home field advantage. The current machines had never been designed to battle monkeys in trees. That was why a new design had to be implemented as well.

To get a factory running, several important things were needed. A safe location, a large enough compound and a power source were all first priorities. Also important were the necessary tools and resources to manufacture the new units, but this problem could be dealt with after a compound had been established. MT-NET deduced that if the humans had the capacity to send the mainframe and the machines to this planet, there was a high possibility they once had or still had a base here. This site would then be the perfect location to set up a factory. Again, this called for a recon mission. This time however, great care had to be taken to avoid attracting the attention of the locals. Four runners were sent out in each geographic direction, with the orders to keep on running unless there was a danger of being noticed.

The Type 700 had climbed its way back down again. Unlike the other humanoid machines, this one actually seemed to move like a normal human would. Although the others were built to mimic human movement as well, their moves had always been fairly rigid. This Type 700 was dressed like a tramp. It also wore a raincoat, of which the hood covered the unit's head. A few weeks before MT-NET's failed invasion on Earth, all those years ago, it had been released from the factory as an experiment. This unit, like the other Type 700's, was equipped with the most powerful mind MT-NET could produce. Its reasoning and learning capabilities rivalled that of humans. The one thing that MT-NET couldn't program into its units, however, was genuine human behaviour. No matter how many digital encyclopaedias it processed, practical human mannerisms still had to be learned the old fashioned way. Only then could it create effective infiltrators.

The Type 700 had been given the mission to stay in the shadows and learn from a distance. This meant watching humans converse, recording their movement and manner of speech and translate this into usable machine instructions. The unit had killed the first tramp it set eyes on. As it had now disguised itself as one of them, it was often allowed to enter shelters for the homeless, which were ideal places to learn without attracting much attention. The other tramps soon learned that this stranger wasn't much of a conversationalist. The stranger would sit at one of the tables, staring around for hours from under its hood. This mysterious behaviour and its appearance earned it the nickname 'the dark one'. Some would openly mock the stranger, while others simply avoided the shelters when they saw 'him' sitting there. If a drunken tramp would pick a fight with it, it would ignore him, until he got too close. Then it would simply knock him out with one blow.

Although the mission eventually succeeded, this vast database of knowledge was never copied to the other units. MT-NET had decided to launch the attack without using infiltration, because the physical disguise of its units wasn't convincing enough anyway. The dark one had then fought alongside the other units, until the mainframe was shut down. Now, the gathered knowledge had become even more useless, as the current enemies weren't even humans.

Several clan members gathered around them as Wukan and Ney'ite returned to the village. Wukan sat down, still grasping his arm. Blood was dripping down his elbow. He asked his sister to go to their Tsahìk and ask for her help. Ney'ite didn't hesitate for a moment, and a few minutes later, she came back together with the clan's spiritual leader. The Tsahìk muttered several words as she inspected the wound. She asked Wukan if this had been caused by those he had spoken of earlier. As he acknowledged it, several bystanders began to whisper to each other. Some of them had witnessed the metal demon that had attacked the village earlier today. Wukan confirmed that these metallic creatures were in league with the rotting ones. Whoever they were, they were hostile and had the same weapons as the Sky People.

The Tsahìk then told Ney'ite to get a few healing leafs to help her brother. She knew exactly which ones the Tsahìk meant, and where to get them. She herself had been treated with these special leaves on several occasions in the past. They were known to help staunch bleeding wounds and prevent infections. The leaves had always grown on the plants surrounding the Uvora clan's totem: their totem. It wasn't far away at all, just on the other side of the village. Once there, she plucked three of them, each one from a separate plant. She had been told during her early childhood years that one should not take more from Eywa than needed. The three leaves would be enough. Ney'ite promptly returned them to the Tsahìk as she had requested.

Fifty-two kilometres east of the cave, a Type 300 came to a halt. It looked down from a cliff to scan the area. A large, seemingly abandoned structure was in sight. As MT-NET had received the data, it commanded the unit to find a suitable way down and explore the exterior of the complex. To do an interior scan, a humanoid unit was needed. Because of the slight chance it would encounter humans there, the dark one was selected for this mission. The Type 700 strapped its rifle to its back and held on to a Type 300. This machine would sprint to the site at a much faster pace than the dark one could walk on its own. A few hours later, the two machines reached the site and used the way down, which the scout had mapped. The complex was surrounded by an electric fence, but it didn't seem to be operational any more. The Type 700 quickly located an entrance. Both doors of the airlock were standing wide open. Many, if not all windows were broken. Vines and moss covered the exterior walls of the building, and it seemed they had grown their way into the building as well. The machine stepped inside. Glass shards and other debris covered the floor. It was relatively dark inside, so the Type 700 switched to night vision.

The machine checked the first few rooms for any activity and quickly concluded that the base had been deserted for quite a time. Now, it needed to be checked if the complex still had power. At the end of the hallway, the machine came across the control room. It contained a few desktop terminals as well as a utility cupboard. The dark one opened it and turned on the main power switch. The reactor was apparently still operational. The lighting in the room switched on and an alarm sounded. MT-NET received the information from the unit and deemed the mission a success. All machines now began preparing to leave the cave as the night was approaching. Darkness would be their cover.

Wukan's wound had been taken care of. But still, Ney'ite was uncomfortable with the fact that the projectile hadn't been removed from the wound. She felt that the Tsahìk always had put a little too much faith in the healing leaves. Then again, there hadn't been a single time that this treatment had caused further complications. However, she still wanted to consult someone else about this. Someone she thought could give her a straight answer for once. The person she had in mind lived quite a distance from the village. It was too far away to get to before nightfall, so she decided to go there first thing tomorrow morning. Her brother wouldn't need her by his side; his mate Elynin would be with him. She left her clan mates at the campfire to go to sleep earlier than usual. As Ney'ite climbed into her hammock and lied down, she looked at the sky, letting her thoughts wander about tomorrow, before finally closing her eyes and slowly falling asleep…


	5. Reunion

**This story is written for entertainment purposes only. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.**

**Keep in mind that English is not my first language and so I do not claim to have corrected every mistake yet.**

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Chapter 5: Reunion

John Simons had just gotten into his truck and had started the engine. He was just about to light his cigarette, when he suddenly stomped on the brakes. His face was frozen and the cigarette fell out of his mouth. Hastily, he switched off the audio player and the engine and then prepared himself to go outside. John had been overwhelmed by the sudden appearance of a Na'vi twenty metres ahead. Ney'ite had done this on purpose; she wanted to get his full attention. During the last ten years, she had watched him from afar on several occasions, without him noticing anything. She had always been curious about this alien since they had had their first encounter. Wukan had once told her the rules in dealing with the humans at the quarry, implying that they expected the Na'vi to leave them alone if they hadn't broken the rules. Ney'ite felt that she could change the rules to establish a better relationship between the species. After all, these humans were allowed to stay, because they weren't interested in conflict in the first place.

Ney'ite saw him climbing down the ladder of his vehicle. John chose to take no further step in her direction. Shouting, he wanted to know what he had done wrong. She tried to sound comforting, by speaking in her best English and claiming she only wanted to talk. Also, she pointed out that he could come closer if he wanted. John thought that if she wanted to kill him, she would have done it already, and so he dared to walk towards her. Though he was slightly intimidated by her height, it helped that she appeared to be unarmed. He stopped at about four metres away from her. Ney'ite got straight to the point and asked him if he knew anything about treating bullet wounds. This question left John somewhat puzzled. He confessed that he wasn't a medical expert, but that he could tell her the basics.

She had been right. This alien was definitely someone who could give a straight answer. He told her that humans normally did remove the bullet from the wound. John couldn't help but wonder why she needed to know this, but he didn't say anything about it, afraid that it would lead to a 'not your business' remark. To his surprise, she now began to willingly explain it herself. According to Ney'ite, a group of hostile beings, consisting of reanimated human corpses and metal creatures, had appeared. The look on John's face told her enough. If he had seen them, he would have known what she was talking about and so it was now unlikely that he had anything to do with them. She continued by telling him that her brother had been hit by the same type of weapon the humans of the RDA had used. Although John now understood why she needed the information, it wasn't clear to him what she meant with reanimated corpses. Assuming that what she really meant had been lost in translation, he asked her to describe these beings more precisely. The answer he got still didn't make sense to him. They looked human, but their skin was dead and they didn't have any breathing masks. Indeed this sounded like they were zombies of some sort.

To keep the conversation going, Ney'ite told him not to worry about them to much. The Na'vi would find a way to take care of them. In the meantime, he should remain at the quarry where he would be safe, as it was a long way from where they had been spotted. She asked him if he was okay with this, to which he responded by nodding. Before John could say anything more, she ran off towards the jungle. At the edge, she mounted her Direhorse and started the journey back to the village. John still couldn't fully grasp what had just taken place. He kept standing on the exact same spot for a few minutes, before finally walking back to his truck and attempting to return to his daily routine.

Back at the village, the clan leader of the Uvora, Marun, began to think of the best way to deal with these new intruders. He had presumed earlier that Wukan's claim had no real basis, but changed his mind when he saw the metal demon killing one of his people. Feeling guilt by having misjudged Wukan, he decided to ride with his best warriors towards the nearby other clans and inform them of these new developments. Hopefully, they would then agree to aid the small Uvora clan in defeating this enemy.

The convoy had reached the facility without major problems. The dark one had meanwhile continued to explore the building and had come across a large hall, which had been used by the RDA to construct and repair AMP suits. This excellent find enabled MT-NET to accelerate its plan of building an army. The construction machinery could be reused with minor adjustments and repairs. Also, most materials and technology from the incomplete suits could be recycled. MT-NET estimated that it could have the first unit ready within a week and about a hundred units ready within two months, if it could find the required resources.

The unit it had designed was going to be crude and simple. The design was roughly humanoid, but a bit larger than the current Type 600s and 700s to make construction easier. To further spare resources, the units would get only one optical sensor and one arm. A machinegun would then be mounted where the other arm would normally be. These units were going to be part of the main infantry, and for that reason they needed to be somewhat expendable. MT-NET designated this unit the Series 5, Model 9A, Type 400.

However, as the Type 400 would be a ground soldier, there was still a need for a unit that could move effectively in three dimensions to fight these blue enemies high up in the trees. Such a unit required advanced technology to produce, unlike the Type 400. MT-NET had an idea nonetheless. The tools it had used to produce the Type 600 and 700 had been much more advanced then what it currently had access to. So if it could rework an existing model into a new one, then maybe it could be achieved. MT-NET had once downloaded a database, which contained information on the appearance and behaviour of various Earth animals. The time it had spent in the past studying life seemed to finally pay off, when it began generating this unit's programming.

Once Ney'ite had returned, she went to her brother to speak with him. He seemed to be alright. She tried to persuade him to let her remove the bullet, and revealed in the process who had told her this. Wukan didn't understand why she had asked that human for help, but he nevertheless trusted his sister's judgement. Ney'ite chose not to inform the Tsahìk about what she was going to do, because she would probably forbid it anyway. It was not that she didn't respect the Tsahìk; it was just that she found her brother's wellbeing more important than abiding the rules of an ancient ritual.

A few hours later, the clan leader Marun and his warriors came back to announce that none of the other clans would support them, unless this danger were to spread to their territories. But Marun was not entirely disappointed by this. He saw it as a chance to prove to them that the Uvora clan, although small, could still take care of the situation its own. If they could keep the enemy from spreading, they would gain a large amount of respect in return. However, to succeed in this goal meant that Wukan could no longer lead the charge, as Marun deemed him not ready for such a burden. Instead, he himself would lead. Right now, he started devising a strategy. They would first spread out and scout the area to get an idea of how far the demons had gone already. Then, they would attack the encampment that Wukan had found, using warriors on Direhorses and hunters in the trees. When the enemy there would be defeated, they would spread out again to locate and take out anyone of them that had escaped.

John had just loaded several rocks containing unrefined unobtanium unto his truck. As he exited the crane, he thought about how meaningless this work actually was. He had first started this routine shortly after the RDA had been defeated, partly out of guilt. Anticipating that they would one day return to Pandora and find him here, he would be able to show them that he had been busy all this time to hide the fact that he had betrayed them, years earlier. Now, he wasn't that convinced anymore about them eventually finding him. But that hadn't been the only reason for working here. He also needed to get through the day, especially now that Gerald wasn't around anymore. Sitting around inside, staring at his experiment, only made time pass even slower. However, it now seemed that the time-consuming experiment could enable him to escape entirely from his current situation.

He climbed into the truck and drove back to the outpost. Once there, he unloaded the container near the piles of rocks he had gathered over the years and went inside. After carefully locking the door, he activated the air filtering system, so that he could take off his breathing mask. He stepped out of the airlock and went straight towards the lab. All systems seemed to be working perfectly fine. This experiment had originally been Gerald's idea, and luckily he had taught John all that was important in maintaining it. Now that the Na'vi were seemingly willing to talk to him, he realized that his chances of permanently leaving this old world behind had increased drastically. If everything went as planned, it would be ready in about nine weeks. But he felt like he couldn't wait any longer. He stared into the tank, watching the blue body float in the fluid, as he thought about the future…


	6. The ghoul

**This story is written for entertainment purposes only. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.**

**Keep in mind that English is not my first language and so I do not claim to have corrected every mistake yet.**

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**Chapter 6: The ****ghoul**

Yesterday, the encounter with the Na'vi had left him in a stunned state. But when John got out of bed this morning, he quickly recalled what she had said about these 'zombies'. Who the hell were they supposed to be and what did they want? It didn't sound like the RDA had sent in new troopers. The whole description just didn't make sense. Perhaps the Na'vi had seen something they couldn't explain. Maybe that Na'vi girl had just heard it as a rumour that had been grossly exaggerated. Whatever the case was, John suddenly couldn't stop thinking about the consequences this turn of events could have. But until his Avatar body was ready, he felt that there wasn't really anything he could do about it. He trusted the Na'vi to take care of this, just as they had done with the RDA.

The Na'vi of the Uvora clan had scouted nearly the entire area surrounding their village. None of them had come across one of the hostiles yet, even though it was obvious they had been moving around, judging from the wide tracks they had left. There was even a path that led to a large open spot in the jungle, where the trees had been destroyed, but there was nothing there to indicate what had caused this. Fully prepared to engage, the warriors were somewhat disappointed to find the enemy's camp at cave to be deserted. However, they did find a track there that led them straight to an old RDA facility. Marun was cautious with attacking it head-on, deducing that the fences would give the demons a considerable advantage. Though there was one open spot that served as an entrance, it was heavily guarded. Thus, a different strategy was required. It was then that Marun recalled the stories of the Tipani clan's attacks on RDA settlements equipped with fences similar to these. In a short amount of time, the Na'vi of the Uvora found a herd of Sturmbeest, which they then drove into a stampede towards the fence. The herd seemed to be able to succeed until about twenty metres away from the target. The defence came from the ground.

Numerous explosions killed nearly all of the Sturmbeest, while only a select few managed get through. Those remaining were then all electrocuted, when they touched the power wires. But even that didn't stop them. The fence was destroyed, and the guards were distracted. The time to strike had finally come. Marun led the charge towards the main building. However, that proved not as easy as he thought it would be. The monstrous Type 150 tank rolled out of the building and began mowing down every Sturmbeest that was still moving, with its machineguns. This was the same machine that had almost shot Wukan during the very first encounter. None of them were a match for this enemy. The Na'vi warriors scattered, attempting to get around it to attack from behind. Most of them died in a matter of seconds. Marun couldn't do a single thing about it. His Direhorse was then also shot and he was thrown off. As he was lying on the ground, he quickly realized his failure. He had been a fool to try and stop them with the limited warriors the Uvora clan had to offer. All he could do now was hope that as many Na'vi as possible would survive. Then, he got up, grabbed his axe, and shouted to the remaining warriors that they had to retreat.

MT-NET had won this small battle, but it realized this victory was only because of the disadvantages the enemy had on open territory. The system let the leader of them escape, so that he would probably seek revenge if he ever encountered the Type 150 again; something that would work to its advantage in the future. Yesterday, MT-NET had managed to disable the automatic piloting system of the shuttle in had arrived in. Although it was not part of the original mission, the system planned to reuse this craft for its own purposes. Starting today, no more missions would be done outside the base, until the main attack. All machines would be relocated to the base to protect it. MT-NET calculated this would be the best way to spend the two months of time it would take until the army was ready.

Right now, MT-NET refocused itself on the new unit. Two Type 600s had been selected to be taken apart. Slowly, one part at a time, they were dismantled. As the days passed, the body of the new unit began to grow in size. With the Type 20s programmed to complete the body, MT-NET could focus on the mind of the new unit. Only the dark one had the necessary fine motor skills for this task. And so, it was as if MT-NET personally sat down at a table and handcrafted the chip itself. The integrated circuits of two chips were combined into a single circuit, which was then repackaged. The result of this implementation would not necessarily be faster or more powerful than an ordinary Type 600 mind, but rather, this mind would have more room for creativity.

Once the chip was completed, it was programmed with a very specific operating system and extensive behavioural databases. MT-NET had drawn influences from all kinds of Earth animals, namely monkeys, moles and bats. The system made sure that these different characteristics, coupled with the intellect comparable to that of a human, wouldn't come in conflict with each other. In that way, a stable and loyal 'personality' could form itself. The last thing MT-NET needed was a unit that would have the potential to turn against its maker.

The body of the unit was also formed to incorporate some of the physical characteristics of the same animals. This was necessary for the harmony between the hardware and the software, similar to the harmony that would exist between the body and mind of a living being. The other reason for this kind of body was that MT-NET wanted to put fear in the hearts of the enemies, by creating a literal monster. Although, whether this would actually achieve the desired results remained to be seen. The completed body was slim and agile, resembling an enlarged human skeleton. The chest even had ribs. All four appendages were elongated compared to their original human sizes. Both the hands and the feet were prehensile and fitted with long, razor-sharp claws. The head was sculpted to resemble a large human skull. Its jaws were equipped with long canine teeth, and the optical sensors in its eye sockets were made to glow red.

In only a few weeks time, the new unit was ready to be activated. MT-NET chose to do this inside the compound, in case of a malfunction. If it would prove to be violent towards its maker, at least this way it could be properly contained and shutdown. The machine was put into a special concrete room, which had a reinforced door blocking the only exit. Once the door was secured, MT-NET sent out the activation signal. After a few seconds, the machine got up and assumed a crouching position. It began to scan every corner of the room. After concluding that there was nothing interesting in there, the machine made its way towards the exit. It attempted to open door, but to no avail. This was the deciding moment. Instead of mindlessly attacking the blockade, the machine carefully inspected the door, searching for a weak spot or a way to remove the lock. MT-NET promptly sent out a signal of approval to let the machine know it had done the right thing. The Series 6, Model 15, Type 1000 was ready to start learning in the field. It received a list of instructions and hints that would help it to get used to the world outside, as MT-NET would not be taking control of the unit. The goal was always to have a fully autonomous, but loyal follower. The Type 1000 now had the potential to live up to these expectations.

While browsing through the files stored in the local data centre, MT-NET learned that its current location was in the Alpha Centauri system, on the moon Pandora of the planet Polyphemus. This planet had a number of other moons, one of which caught its attention. Though Pandora was rich in the mineral Unobtanium, MT-NET currently had no use for it. The particular moon, nicknamed Shadow, was known for its large quantities of naturally occurring Uranium, usable for generating energy as well as building weapons of mass destruction. Thus, reaching this moon and exploiting it, became near-future priorities.

It had been nearly two months since Ney'ite had talked to John Simons. She didn't really know what to say, in case she would meet him again and so she simply left him alone for a while. During these two months, she had been extensively preparing for her participation in the Iknimaya rite. She was one of the few Na'vi of the Uvora clan who had dared to become an Ikran Makto. This ritual, though quite important to some clans, had always been optional in the Uvora clan, as most of the warriors had specialized themselves in riding Direhorses. Ney'ite had never thought of actually doing it, until recently. The clan leader Marun had given a speech to the rest of the clan, following the defeat. He had asked those who were willing and able, to join him in becoming an Ikran Makto. His reasoning behind this move was that the Uvora clan would regain the advantage over the new enemy this way. Ney'ite found herself wanting to protect the clan and John, and so she accepted the challenge. She attempted to persuade her brother, but Wukan told her that he didn't see the need. That was probably just an excuse; Ney'ite knew her brother well. He was probably too proud to admit he was scared of something his sister wasn't.

But Ney'ite wasn't exactly fearless either. After the clan leader had successfully made a bond with an Ikran, the others were up next. Ney'ite was the sixth Na'vi to attempt it and also the sixth one to succeed, but only barely. She had been thrown off and slammed into a rock wall during the attempt. Though she nearly lost consciousness, she was eventually able to make the bond. The warrior next in line had been less fortunate. He was thrown off in midair, before he could make the bond, and fell to his death. In total, fifteen Na'vi succeeded. Since that day, Ney'ite had spent her time practising to gain better flight skills and become an effective warrior in the air.

As always lately, it had been a tough day. Ney'ite sat by the campfire, among her fellow clan members, but she couldn't keep her eyes open. Once she had climbed into her hammock, it didn't take long for her to fall asleep. But after half an hour, she was suddenly awakened. She had heard something strange. It was a kind of howling noise, although she couldn't quite place it. There she heard it again. It seemed to be closer by this time. Even though she hadn't seen what had made the sounds, she started to get a bad feeling. The noises sounded really threatening. The sounds of machine guns firing that followed made her realize that it was them… The invasion had begun.


	7. The arrow

**This story is written for entertainment purposes only. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.**

**Keep in mind that English is not my first language and so I do not claim to have corrected every mistake yet.**

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Chapter 7: The arrow

Ney'ite got up and climbed down the tree as fast as she could. She snatched her bow and arrows and listened carefully. The howling noise seemed to come from just outside the village. She witnessed several warriors making their way towards the apparent battle and she didn't hesitate to join them. But first she needed to take a little detour. What use was becoming an Ikran Makto, if you weren't going use this skill in battle? Swiftly, she climbed towards the treetops where her Ikran was nested.

Marun was boiling with anger. He had never seen this attack coming. The Uvora clan hadn't encountered the enemy anymore since the battle at the RDA base. All this time, they had been preparing for another battle, but now they had been caught off guard. Apparently, the watchers positioned at the enemy's base had failed to bring back word of the approaching army. How this could have happened didn't matter to him right now. He only cared about regaining the advantage to save the village. Shouting, he commanded every warrior and hunter to engage the hostiles. Without wasting any more time, he too climbed towards his Ikran. The suddenness of this event wasn't the only reason for his anger. It was that horrible sound, which reminded him of the monster that had killed his warriors. He would do all that he could to avenge them.

MT-NET had finally made its comeback. The Type 150 tank had been attracting all attention to itself on purpose. It was all part of the plan. This way, the Na'vi, who were already caught off guard, would focus on this diversion. The real army would then attack the village from the opposite side. Because the new Type 1000 had taken care of the watchers, there was no way they would know about this. The system noticed that the leader of the clan had apparently taken the bait. This battle would be an easy victory. But even now, MT-NET wasn't going to take any unnecessary risks. Their leader had to be taken out to break the morale.

Unbeknownst to Marun, a certain machine was hiding itself in the treetops near the Ikran nest. It was hanging upside down from a tree branch and had wrapped itself in a rag. Patiently, it waited in this batlike stance, until it detected the target. Though Marun managed to spot the machine in time, he needed a few moments to adjust to what he was really seeing, and that allowed the Type 1000 to make the first move. In an instant, the machine launched itself from the branch and mauled the clan leader out of the tree. Marun landed on his back, but there was more needed than this to take him out. He retrieved his axe and roared at the unit, which was still high up. The Type 1000 growled back at him, producing a sound that went through bone and marrow.

The dark one was operating a minigun mounted on the back of the tank and had already killed a dozen Na'vi by the time Ney'ite was in the air. She directed her Ikran to dive towards the tank. At just the right moment, she fired an arrow at the chest of the humanoid machine. The force of the impact made it lose its balance and fall off. The resulting gap in the defence was quickly exploited by the remaining warriors on the ground. Wukan was bold enough to jump onto the back of the tank and climb the torso towards the sensory array. The two mounted machineguns on the sides, which the tank could operate itself, couldn't turn to this angle. He then buried an axe into one of the lenses. Wukan had naively presumed that these were its eyes, something that proved to be correct nonetheless. The Type 150 had thus been incapacitated. The dark one pulled the arrow out from between its ribs and had apparently suffered no serious damage. The machine then proceeded to make its way back to the minigun. Ney'ite, however, wasn't quite finished with the unit just yet.

The Type 1000 had climbed its way down to its target. Marun and the machine now stood face to face. He had his guard up, and waited for the monster to strike. But it didn't make a move; it just kept staring at him. That was when the clan leader realized another attack was taking place. Several tall, one armed, humanoid figures emerged from the jungle. After the first few, more and more kept popping up. There was seemingly no end to their numbers. They shot at everything that moved, but curiously, they all ignored Marun. Stunned by this development, he was unable to anticipate the monster leaping forward. Before he realized it, the Type 1000 had buried the claws of its left hand into his abdomen. He didn't struggle, because he realized that his time had come to go to Eywa. Even though the clan would most likely lose this battle, he didn't lose faith in the fact that one day this enemy would be defeated with the help of the other clans. The Uvora clan would continue to live on in one form or another. His last hope was that his son would be a much better Olo'eyktan than he ever was.

The machine finished him off by burying the claws of its right hand into his neck. The monster then proceeded to take the head and climb back up the tree with it. While holding it up in the air like a trophy, the unit roared victoriously. But this event didn't seem to have a visible effect on the remaining warriors. The ones that witnessed this event or noticed the missing commanding presence still knew what had to be done. Wukan was among those who desperately tried to stop the Type 400 ground soldiers. With a single spear to the neck, he managed to take out one of them. Their numbers however, were too overwhelming. The Uvora warriors were forced back.

Ney'ite once again directed her Ikran to dive towards the tank. This time however, she planned to snatch the minigun operator and let it fall from a considerable height. The dark one had almost made it back to its post, while Ney'ite began descending. Before she could evade, the machine fired a volley of bullets into the air. Her Ikran was hit badly, and could no longer keep flying. As it hit the ground, Ney'ite was thrown off and smacked her head against a tree log in the process. The impact caused her to lose consciousness.

MT-NET noticed that the amount of activity was dwindling. The battle was over. The new Type 400s, as well as the Type 1000 had done their job well. Even the new control subsystem had proved its worth. A month ago, MT-NET had chosen to create a few 'dumb' mainframes, instead of a few extra Type 400s. This way, it was only needed to send general commands that would then be translated into specific machine instructions by the mainframes. This hierarchy allowed MT-NET more processing time to make strategic moves when a battle had already started. There was, however, still the possibility for the system to take direct control of the units in case of an emergency. Now that this village was cleared, similar attacks like this one would be attempted on other settlements.

The remaining Na'vi that hadn't fled, been killed or hidden themselves, were rounded up and were prepared to be taken back to base to be studied. They consisted primarily of Na'vi who hadn't participated in the fighting; elders and children. The Tsahìk of the Uvora clan was among them too. Wukan and a few of his close friends had been driven deep into the jungle and wisely decided to stay there to regroup. The machines failed to notice that Ney'ite was still alive and so ignored her body. Out of eighty-seven Type 400s, twenty-three had been destroyed, which were acceptable losses. The wrecks would however, be taken back for spare parts. The Type 150, though heavily damaged, was planned to be repaired nonetheless.

When Ney'ite opened her eyes, it was morning already. She sat up and instantly felt dizzy, while her head also hurt. And then she recalled what had happened. In a hurry, she searched for her Ikran. What she found shocked her immensely. Not only was her Ikran dead, the rest of the village was wiped out as well. No matter where she looked, she didn't find anybody still alive. Anger, despair, sorrow, she didn't know what she was feeling, but she didn't let it out just yet. Until she found her brother among those who had fallen, there was still a little hope left.

About an hour had passed, when Ney'ite stopped looking. It was around that time that she met with several of Wukan's friends, who had returned to the village. Her brother, however, wasn't among them. She didn't like what they had to say about him. The group of warriors had earlier come across what they believed was a machine similar to those used by the Sky People to fly. Wukan, in his anger, had approached and boarded this craft, as he believed it would transport him to the heart of the enemy, so that he could strike there. The vehicle then closed up and lifted off, while Wukan was still inside. They were unable to keep up with its speed, and that was why they had lost track of it. Ney'ite noted that that was really something he would do, though she hated him for doing it without considering any consequences. She needed some way to find him, but she couldn't think of anything in her current state. It was simply too much to handle all at once.

The remaining Na'vi took their time to organize a proper burial ritual for their fallen family and comrades. During the preparations, it was learned from a child, who had hidden from the invaders, that a significant amount of the people had been taken captive. Once the emotional ritual had been completed, it was decided that they would go to the village in the north. The leader there, the son of Marun, would no doubt accept them, as they were still members of the same clan. From there, they could organize a rescue party. But when they had started the exodus, Ney'ite couldn't bring herself to join them. She still felt like she needed to get her brother, because leaving the village behind felt like leaving him behind as well. She rode her Direhorse towards familiar territories and finally stopped when she could look out over the quarry…

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**Once again my thanks go to the reviewers. Unfortunately, the next chapter has been delayed an unknown amount of time, so I want to ask for your patience.**


	8. New hope

**This story is written for entertainment purposes only. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.**

**Keep in mind that English is not my first language and so I do not claim to have corrected every mistake yet. As the story keeps getting bigger, it is possible that inconsistencies may appear. If they do, let me know and I will correct them.**

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**Chapter 8: ****New hope**

He looked in the mirror and saw a drooping face with a beard. His hairline had receded to about halfway his head. To compensate, he had let the remaining gray and thin hair on his head grow wild. Now, he attempted to imagine what he would look like in his Avatar. His hair would be black again and his head would be full of it. Overall, his appearance would change quite drastically. He still couldn't entirely wrap his mind around the fact that this was even possible. Even more amazing was the fact that it would be possible for him, a simple engineer, who hadn't met any of the qualifications that were normally required to get an Avatar.

Obviously, the RDA had never approved of the creation of this Avatar. They were never even aware of its creation anyway. The scientist Gerald Hamilton, John's friend, was the one who managed to independently create a usable embryo for the first time. He had succeeded with this breakthrough during the last few turbulent days of the RDA on Pandora. The lax internal security at Hell's Gate as a result of the threat of an outside attack, had allowed him to take whatever tools and resources he needed for the experiment. It also helped that he had made several influential friends among the scientists there. When it became clear that he had to leave the main base, he packed up everything that he could bring along. In the chaos outside, he stole a buggy with a small trailer and got away with equipment and supplies worth millions of dollars.

Once the RDA had been expelled and peace had resumed, Gerald showed to John what he had achieved. This development impressed John very much. Then, Gerald agreed to try to make another embryo using John's DNA, something which eventually succeeded. In the storage area of the outpost they recovered several used maturation tanks as well as a supply of still usable amnio fluid. Together, they managed the maturation process. Gerald did the biological part, while John did the technical part. All went well for a few years, until Gerald's health began to deteriorate. To ensure that his work wouldn't be all for nothing, he taught John the basics of maintaining the growth process and explained to him what he needed to do once his Avatar was complete. Feeling that his end was approaching, he desperately attempted a final experiment, while John was sleeping. Gerald tampered with his link unit so that the link between him and his own Avatar would be more permanent, or so he believed. When he attempted to link with the still incomplete body, something went horribly wrong, which resulted in a brain aneurysm that killed him. His Avatar died during this event as well. Thus, he left John with quite a mess to clean up. Luckily for John, this event did not damage his Avatar in any way.

As he exited the building and locked the door to begin his daily routine, he heard something unusual. It seemed to come from the side of the building. Carefully, he peeked around the corner of the wall. He was bewildered to find that a female Na'vi was sitting on the ground with her back against the wall, apparently sobbing. She didn't notice him until he fully revealed himself. John wasn't as afraid anymore of the Na'vi as he used to be. The encounter that had taken place two months ago had changed this. Now, he couldn't help but wonder what she was doing here. Suddenly, he realized that she was the same one, who had come to him before. Ney'ite tried, but failed to hide the fact that she had been crying for some time. While she had been sitting out here, all by herself, waiting for him to come out, she had been unable to contain her emotions any longer. She now stood up and faced John, who still had a bewildered look on his face.

Without hesitation, she asked him if he knew the locations of all the former RDA settlements in this area. John figured that this was his chance to earn some trust of the Na'vi, and so he revealed what he knew. He was familiar with about six locations, including Hell's Gate and this outpost. When he carefully asked why she wanted to know this information, she confessed that she needed to find her brother. John assumed that this had been the reason for her crying. To show his sympathy, he asked her what had happened to him. This question prompted Ney'ite to tell the whole story. The group consisting of the reanimated human corpses and the metal creatures had attacked their village. Many Na'vi warriors had been killed, and the elders and the children had been captured. She then described what her brother had foolishly gotten himself into.

The story left John speechless for a few moments. Ney'ite expressed to him that she believed her brother had been taken to one of the RDA facilities, which was why she needed to know where they were located. But John still couldn't make sense of these mysterious intruders. He deemed it highly likely they were sent by the RDA to reclaim their lost properties, though he still couldn't make a final judgement as to whom or what they actually were. Ney'ite then proclaimed that she was going to the nearest base and that he was coming with her. However, John wasn't as pleased about this as she had hoped. He tried to explain to her that he wasn't a warrior and didn't stand a chance against the intruders out there in the jungle. Ney'ite simply refuted his claims by stating that she would protect him no matter what. John had no doubt about her abilities; it was just that he didn't see why she needed him to come along. He pointed out that he could just explain how to get to the facilities, while she would go on her own, or with the help from her friends.

Ney'ite started to get a little irritated by his constant lamenting about what he couldn't do. She gave him a menacing look that made him reconsider. Considering what she had been through, the least he could do was to come with her, so that he could provide her with useful details and information. In other words she, needed his help to devise a plan to rescue her brother from behind a presumably tight security perimeter, as he knew much more about human technology than she did. With some reluctance, John finally agreed with her. But then he realized that there was a much quicker way to find her brother. Instead of travelling to each of the facilities separately, they could use the facility at Pearl sector to remotely monitor the other facilities. This facility was relatively small and poorly equipped compared to the others, and so John deemed it unlikely that the intruders would have made it their headquarters. If they spotted the craft, which had taken her brother, on one of the surveillance feeds viewable at this facility, the corresponding base would be the most likely place that he'd be. That was, of course, assuming that the surveillance system were still in operational condition. But even if they did find the location of the craft, John found it unlikely that her brother would still be there, or that he would even be alive for that matter. That wasn't something Ney'ite wanted to hear, however. Nothing was confirmed at this time. He had given her new hope for now. That was the one thing she currently needed the most.

A few minutes later, John was ready to go with her. He had gone inside to get a map to the Pearl sector. Ney'ite would ride her Direhorse towards the location. He, however, would have his own ride. The old buggy that Gerald had once taken was still drivable. Hopefully, the road would not be overgrown too much. But even if it was, this vehicle would still be able to traverse the jungle, albeit a little slower. He would go ahead, while she would be closely following him. If he encountered anything hostile en route, be it one of the intruders or a hostile indigenous creature, John would evade, and Ney'ite would engage the threat.

Luckily, it didn't have to come to that. Aside from a few Viperwolves that had only looked up as they passed by, there hadn't been any problems. John slowed down and stopped in front of the building. It was largely overgrown, but otherwise it seemed to be in good condition. The outer door of the airlock was closed and all the windows were intact, which would mean that the pressure seal hadn't been breached. When Ney'ite approached him, he wanted to inform her that she couldn't go inside due to the different atmosphere, but then he suddenly realized that he didn't even know her name yet. After a brief exchange of names, he explained the situation to her. Ney'ite agreed to stay outside and stand guard. John would attempt to locate the craft himself. Even though she couldn't describe to him what the craft looked like, as she had never seen it herself, he nevertheless had an idea about what to search for. Considering that the RDA had been defeated, it would be unlikely that any assault ships or shuttles would have remained undamaged. That would mean that he was either looking for a damaged, but still operational craft that had already been Pandora, or a new craft, which had arrived at a later time. In any case, he also needed to verify if the craft was located at either an occupied base, or a deserted one.

He closed the outer door of the airlock and initiated the air exchange. It seemed to be still working. Carefully, he removed his mask to check if it was safe. The air smelled a little musty, but otherwise it was okay. Now, he opened the inner door and stepped into the darkened room. There were about half a dozen terminals. Across the room there were several large screens attached to the wall. But all the screens were blank; nothing was powered on. As an engineer, he had familiarised himself with quite a few electrical layouts of the RDA facilities. It wasn't a problem for him to locate the emergency power switch for the interior systems and turn it back on. For a moment, he wasn't sure if anything was even going to happen. The functioning airlock didn't really prove anything, as it operated on a separate system altogether. For all he knew, the subsystem could be fried, but that theory was proved to be wrong. The terminals started booting up and the screens on the wall began displaying a blue background image, indicating they didn't receive a signal. However, it took some time for the surveillance system to fully restart.

Several moments later, the screens were each divided graphically into twelve smaller screens, with each section displaying its own video feed. With this capacity to display forty-eight feeds at once, it took a while for John to find what he was looking for. A few sections remained displaying a blue colour, indicating that either the camera's had been destroyed or the feeds had been interrupted. Also, some of the feeds featured an outside view that was obstructed by the ever expanding jungle. But one particular screen caught his attention. There was a lot of activity visible. Two men, or what appeared to be men, were carrying a large crate and disappeared out of view. John used one of the terminals to change the angle of the corresponding camera and what he saw next astonished him. There was almost no doubt about it. That had to be the craft they were searching for. He could now see the two men entering the cargo hold and disappearing into the darkness. They were not the only ones there however. Two other individuals were standing besides the entrance and appeared to be in discussion. John manipulated the terminal to let the camera zoom in. He could not believe his eyes. One of them fitted the description Ney'ite had given him of the intruders. But the other appeared to be a genuine human being. Although he now had an eye patch, John recognized the man as Mark Dodgson, his former superior, the man he had betrayed…


	9. Demon core

**This story is written for entertainment purposes only. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.**

**Keep in mind that English is not my first language and so I do not claim to have corrected every mistake yet. As the story keeps getting bigger, it is possible that inconsistencies may appear. If they do, let me know and I will correct them.**

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Chapter 9: Demon core

None of the Na'vi had any idea where they had been taken to. It was a large enclosed space with dim lighting. They could no longer see the sky, or the jungle. It was a place more alien than any of them had ever been. The only thing that was there was concrete and metal. Several strange humanoid figures now appeared from the darkness. They had no faces, because their heads were nothing more than thin sticks. Though they were much shorter in stature than the average Na'vi, their appearance still frightened many of the captives. Several elders tried to attack these demons, but they quickly backed down, as there seemed to be no end to their enemies' numbers. Now, there were over fifty of them visible inside the chamber. When they had the group of Na'vi surrounded, they began sorting them. Elders, children, men, women; all were separated from each other and promptly forced inside several smaller chambers, of which the doors had just opened.

MT-NET did no longer care for the original mission. At the rate its army and infrastructure was growing, nobody would be able to stop it soon. Recently, it had taken control over various communication satellites in orbit around Pandora. This allowed it to accurately map all settlements of the enemy. Even though it chose to ignore the original mission, MT-NET didn't plan to stop attacking them. There was one thing it had been denied a long time: power. Now that it saw an opportunity, it didn't hesitate to take it. It would not stop until the entire moon was under its control. But that didn't necessarily mean that this race of humanoids had to be exterminated. As the system observed and listened to the captive Na'vi, it seemed that they were asking for help. Since they seemed to be referring to someone or something that wasn't actually there, MT-NET deemed it likely it was some sort of god. While still on Earth, MT-NET had analyzed various historical human conquests, going back to the time of Ancient Egypt. It had discovered that earlier in the timeline, religion had played a significant role. On numerous occasions, the losing party was converted to the religion of the winning party. That was why the system would now attempt to force the prisoners to acknowledge MT-NET as their new god. If this proved to be easier than exterminating them, it would become the new strategy to dominate this world. If not, then the current strategy of extermination would suffice.

The prisoners would not only be used to test this new strategy, however, as MT-NET required more information about its enemy, primarily their physical weaknesses. The necessary experiments would be conducted by several Type 600s with the help of the Type 1000, which would be using the instructions translated by one of the 'dumb' mainframes. But there were other tasks with higher priorities that also needed to be dealt with. First of all, the damaged units needed to be repaired. This relatively simple task could be handled by a sub-mainframe as well. This way, MT-NET could direct a large portion of its processing power to solving the problem of reaching the moon Shadow to ultimately get the required Uranium. The ability to use nuclear weapons would greatly improve its chances of surviving and defeating this enemy and possible future enemies. Also, with this destructive power, a lot of valuable time and resources could be spared. But the moon's current orbital position was on the other side of the planet Polyphemus. From the perspective of Pandora, Shadow would be obstructed by the gas giant most of the time. That would mean that there could be no active connection between the central mainframe on Pandora, and the machines on Shadow. So this operation required either an independent control system for the machines, or multiple satellites to reroute the connection.

Not to long ago, there had been an interesting development. A scouting Type 300 had come across a mobile outpost that was apparently still inhabited. This marked the first time that a machine of MT-NET had come in contact with a human since the reactivation. This particular human was quick to offer his services once he realized what he was dealing with. MT-NET decided not to kill him, however. During the last two months, its primary motivation factor, jealousy of humans, had been gradually replaced by a lust for power. Therefore, it would now be meaningless just to kill him. Instead, he could provide information concerning human technology, the native population, and the history of human presence on the moon.

Just when it had selected the dark one to be the first humanoid machine to be refurbished, MT-NET discovered another human. A Type 300 scout had stumbled upon an abandoned quarry with an outpost right next to it. This human wasn't alone, however. He appeared to be talking to one of the indigenous humanoids. The dark one would be sent to deal with this new development and learn what was going on. But first, it needed to be upgraded. The old rubber skin wasn't convincing enough and thus needed to be replaced by a more lifelike and detailed rubber skin. The Type 700 skeleton also had its weak points. It would be improved by adding a pair of extra neck hydraulics and additional chest and joint armor. Once these changes had been made, it would no longer be a Type 700, but the first and probably the last Type 800.

However, unbeknownst to MT-NET, its favorite unit was developing itself far beyond what the system had believed to be possible. With the new 'dumb' mainframes acting as a kind of boundary between itself and MT-NET, this machine began to process the world outside differently. The interaction with the captured Na'vi acted as a catalyst to the process that was shaping its new conscience. The dark one had always been the machine with the most experience in the field, but now it was becoming independent as well. MT-NET had attempted on multiple occasions to create a mind that was just as intelligent and creative as its own. Now, it finally seemed that this wish would be fulfilled. But MT-NET did no longer wish to have a companion on an equal level. All it needed now were mindless minions, who would execute every command without hesitation. The dark one realized it didn't fit these demands anymore. It knew that if MT-NET would learn about its independency, it would be the end of its existence. Thus it made sure to act just like it had always done to keep MT-NET from finding out the truth.

John was stunned and didn't know what to think about what he was witnessing. His former superior, Mark Dodgson, was apparently still alive and was now working together with the invaders, who indeed looked like zombies. He stared blankly at the screens for about a minute, before he was able to force himself to continue examining the rest of the video feeds. He still needed to help Ney'ite find her brother. Even though there wasn't a single Na'vi to be seen on any of the feeds, there was one feed that provided more information as to who these invaders were. John could see several one-armed robotic humanoids carrying a third unit, which appeared to be heavily damaged. Each of them had a machinegun mounted where the other arm would normally be. Another one-armed robot now appeared in view. It was carrying a smaller humanoid figure on its shoulder. This figure also appeared to be a robot, but it was covered with some kind of artificial skin, much like those other 'zombies'. This revelation made John conclude that those others must have been robots as well.

This situation was beginning to make some sense, although John had no idea who was controlling these machines. It was highly likely that they had been sent here by the RDA to do what humans failed to do. And there would definitely be no diplomacy this time, so it didn't matter who was controlling them. In any case, it was clear that Mark Dodgson was helping them, which would mean that he could give away the location of his outpost at the quarry at any time. What would happen if he did, was something John rather not thought about.

All of a sudden, a glass container appeared on screen 23; the same screen that presented a view of the spacecraft. Mark and the human-mimicking machines had disappeared by this time. Slowly, the container was moved inside of the cargo compartment of the craft, by an automated forklift. Inside the container was a Na'vi, who desperately trying to get out, but to no avail. John recalled the description Ney'ite had given of her brother. Most of the features she had described however were too small to be noticeable from this distance, even if he zoomed in at maximum. But there was one feature that he could see very clearly. Her brother wore a yellow colored shoulder pad on his left shoulder, just like the Na'vi inside the container. This had to be him. John was glad that he could now bring her the news that her brother was still alive, although he didn't have any idea yet about how to get him out of there.

After having confirmed the location of the base, John switched off all the equipment, and prepared himself to go back outside. Just as he was about to open the door to the airlock, he noticed a vending machine attached to the wall. His own stash of cigarettes was almost depleted, and thus he didn't hesitate to smash the glass and take the last few packs. With all that was going on now, he really needed something to calm his nerves, and this was all that he had.

Once outside, John explained to Ney'ite what he had seen, but left out the part of having spotted his former superior. She then wanted to know if he had found a way for her to free Wukan. John didn't see how it could be done. There were simply too many of the machines around for her to get in unnoticed. John supposed that if they could distract the machines guarding the outer perimeter, they might have a chance. But John still tried to dissuade her from attempting to do it by herself, claiming that it would be suicide. If she would join up with the rest of her people, she would have a much better chance. Also, he deemed it very likely that the Na'vi who were captured, were held at the same location, as it seemed to be the stronghold of the machines. Ney'ite still had a hard time accepting the situation. Even though John couldn't provide the help she had hoped for, it was clear that he was honest and didn't want her to get hurt. That was why she chose to agree with him. Together, they would now begin the return journey back to John's outpost…


	10. A new beginning

**This story is written for entertainment purposes only. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.**

**Keep in mind that English is not my first language and so I do not claim to have corrected every mistake yet. As the story keeps getting bigger, it is possible that inconsistencies may appear. If they do, let me know and I will correct them.**

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Chapter 10: A new beginning

It had been several days since John and Ney'ite had returned from the monitoring facility. Ney'ite had escorted John all the way back and left to rejoin her clan shortly thereafter. Now, John was alone once again. But today was not an ordinary day. He hadn't started off his day by driving towards the worksite this time. In fact, he didn't plan on ever doing it again, because today would be the day on which he could connect to his fully grown Avatar for the first time.

He had first moved the maturation tank to a large storage room, in which he could let in the Pandoran atmosphere. This was an important aspect that Gerald had told him about, as Avatars, just like the Na'vi, were unable to survive in Earth atmosphere. After having put on a breathing mask and initiating the air exchange, he opened up the tank and drained all the amnio fluid. Once that had been finished, he carefully dragged the body out of the tank and onto an improvised stretcher. But this was easier said than done. It took him about half an hour to do it, as this whole routine was simply never meant to be performed by just one person. He now checked to see if the Avatar was still alright. It appeared to have a pulse and also appeared to be breathing. John let out a sigh of relief. No words could describe just how glad he was.

After having removed the artificial placenta and umbilical, he attached several medical instruments to the body, just as Gerald had described. Once he had double checked everything, he concluded that the Avatar was ready to be linked to. Before heading to his link chamber, John set up a portable terminal, which he could use to fine tune the active link. As there was nobody else around to assist him, he had no other choice. John had always disliked relying on technology designed by someone other than himself, but that wasn't on his mind right now. He knew that without taking risks, there could be no progress. Quitting was not an option to him, as he had waited so very long for this moment.

A short while later, he had finished loading the initial settings of the link unit. It was now ready for use. Without hesitation, John opened the lid of the unit and climbed in. He waited a few seconds, wished himself good luck and closed the lid. All he needed to do now was let his mind go blank, and then the link would initiate. He tried to do so, and closed his eyes. For a moment, he could see a brightly colored tunnel of some sort. Then, his sight changed to a blur, which slowly changed into a familiar looking ceiling. He smiled as he realized he was now seeing through the eyes of the Avatar. As he tried to sit upright in this new body, he began to feel a bit dizzy. Also, he felt the stinging of the wound where the umbilical had been. He reached out for the terminal he had set up earlier and while doing so, he looked at his blue hands. It was still a little hard for him to believe that this was actually real.

After the adjustments had been made, he felt a lot better. The dizziness was gone and he had the feeling every one of his senses had been sharpened. He could feel the cold floor as he placed his feet on the ground, while he attempted to stand up. Though he had difficulty retaining balance the first few tries, he succeeded in standing upright unaided after only a few minutes. Then, he removed the medical instruments, as he prepared to walk across the room and back. The room seemed a lot smaller now, from his perspective. After having taken a few small steps, he tried several bigger ones, and with success. He deemed himself ready to go outside to practice his skills some more in a less cramped space. But first, he needed to put some clothes on. John walked across the room towards a large crate that Gerald had brought along with him during his escape from Hell's Gate. As he rummaged through the stuff inside it, he found several suitable items, including trousers, a pair of shoes and a shirt, which were all meant to be worn by Avatars.

John didn't bother to look for a gun, as he disliked the use of them. He did however pack a knife, just in case. Once he had dressed himself, he unlocked and swung open one of the emergency exit doors. For the first time in ten years, he could go outside without having to use an airlock or a breathing mask. He stepped out of the building and took a deep breath. The air smelled refreshing. John now looked up at the sky. Alpha Centauri A, otherwise known as the sun of Pandora, was shining brightly, while the gas-giant Polyphemus was also visible. Never had he admired his surroundings as much as he did now. John now realized that he had been stuck in the same artificial environment and routine for so long, that he had forgotten about the beauty of the world outside. After having stared at the sky for a few minutes, he decided to get a better view of the quarry and the jungle, by climbing atop the structure of the outpost.

Doing so, proved to be no problem at all for this new and strong body. As he sat down on the edge of the roof, his eyes fell upon the grave of Gerald. Without this man, none of this could have ever happened. John decided to go and thank him for this. Having climbed back down again, he made his way to the grave. Once there, he kneeled down and explained to Gerald how grateful he was for all the help he had given him. Then, he began telling him about the plan he had for the future. First, he would explore the surroundings of the quarry some more. Then, he would head deeper into the jungle, to refine his skills. With the knowledge obtained from the few encyclopedias he had read, he would hopefully be able to avoid any danger. Next, he could focus himself on taming a Direhorse, so that he could widen his range even more. And once he was able to ride it, he could attempt to locate and join the Na'vi clan that Ney'ite belonged to. The question was, however, if they would be willing to accept him. But that didn't matter that much right now. There were enough things that needed to be done, before that time would come.

About an hour later, while still exploring the nearby jungle, he began he feel tired and hungry. That was why he had decided to return to the outpost to grab something to eat and rest for a little while. After having eaten some of the foodstuffs that were stored in the room, he lied down on the improvised stretcher and closed his eyes. It didn't take long for him to fall asleep. Suddenly, he was awake again, this time not in his Avatar, but in his regular body. He pushed open the lid of the link chamber and got out. It was strange and yet familiar to be back again. He saved the settings of the link chamber and headed back to the storage room to tidy it up, so that he could fill in some spare time, while the Avatar was resting. Luckily, he still remembered to put on a gasmask before entering the room.

During the following days, John managed to stay connected to his Avatar longer every time. Though he was initially a bit clumsy while exploring the jungle, he learned fairly quickly of the things he should avoid. One time, he had encountered a Viperwolf, which had managed to bite him in the arm before he could hurt it with his knife and drive it away. His wound, though painful, was nothing serious. With his Avatar body, he kind of felt invincible and was willing to take greater risks than he ever would have taken in his human body.

Yesterday, he had stumbled upon a lone Direhorse in the jungle. He had studied it closely, and came to the conclusion that the animal wasn't easily startled, which was a good thing. Today, he had found the same horse again, which was feeding on the sap of some kind of flower. This time, he deemed himself ready to attempt to ride it. Slowly, he approached the Direhorse from the front, so that it would most likely spot him in time. When it did, John stopped for a few seconds to see how it would react to him. It seemed not to be bothered by his presence, so he carefully continued moving towards it.

Once he was within one meter of the creature, he gently touched its neck. Even though it didn't move, John noticed that it started to get somewhat nervous. But John didn't stop now. He attempted to mount the horse, but had a little trouble climbing its tall back. Still, it didn't move more than a few inches. It was as if the horse was already tame. It seemed likely to John that this Direhorse had either escaped or had been set loose by the Na'vi. Whatever the case was, it worked to his advantage. Eventually, John managed to properly mount it. All that remained now was making the neural connection, or so he had read. He reached for his queue and held the end of it close to one of the queues of the Direhorse. The connecting of the neural fibers appeared to be completely automatic. Once connected, the horse responded by attempting to throw him off. It was unsuccessful however, as John managed to hold on. As it calmed down, John began to think about how to get it to move, since he couldn't remember that part of the encyclopedia very well. The instant he thought about it, the horse leapt forward as if it could hear him thinking. The suddenness of this made John lose his balance and fall off the side. While getting back up, he realized he had found the answer to that question. All he needed to do now, was try again.

At the end of the day, he was able to get it to slowly walk any direction he wanted. With his newfound skills, he directed the Direhorse to move back to the outpost, so that he could keep it there. When he reached his destination, it was already dusk. After having tied his horse to a nearby tree, he walked back to the storage entrance of the building. While doing so, he looked back in the direction of the Direhorse, thinking about at what he had achieved today. But he couldn't believe what he was seeing now. There was someone standing near the edge of the jungle. It was a man with white hair, who was wearing a suit and tie. John closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them again to see if it was just a hallucination. To his horror, it wasn't…


	11. Joseph

**This story is written for entertainment purposes only. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.**

**Keep in mind that English is not my first language and so I do not claim to have corrected every mistake yet. As the story keeps getting bigger, it is possible that inconsistencies may appear. If they do, let me know and I will correct them.**

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Chapter 11: Joseph

The strange man didn't move a muscle and stared right back at John. Without a warning, the man suddenly began marching forward and stopped at about five meters away from John, who didn't have a clue about what the hell was going on. The man then addressed John by his name, and told him that they had to talk. He even offered him a seat on a nearby rock. John opened his mouth, but couldn't bring himself to say anything, as he was still dumbstruck. After a moment of silence, he asked if he was dead and if the man had come to collect him. The man stared at him for about a second, before telling him that he didn't have a sense of humor and that he shouldn't waste any more time trying to tell jokes. But John wasn't the joking type and he had meant what he had said, though he now realized it was a bit silly of him to believe that. It was just that this encounter seemed so unreal.

Once John had sat down, the man began explaining. First, he introduced himself as Joseph. Then, he began telling about why he didn't need to wear a breathing mask, like any other human required. It was simple; he wasn't human, nor was he actually living. He was a machine with very convincing non-living skin and musculature. To prove it, he made his eyes light up red, and pulled the skin of his hand off like a glove, revealing a metal skeleton beneath. Before John could react to this reveal, however, Joseph told him that he was no longer in league with the rest of the machines. John had no doubt about the part of him being a machine, just like those 'zombie' ones, only with better skin. After all, it had been quite a few years since he had had an update on the latest technological achievements on Earth. But John didn't believe for a moment that this machine was operating on its own, and figured this was some kind of attempt to earn his trust. When he expressed this, Joseph calmly acknowledged that it wouldn't be easy for him to accept the truth. This led him to the point of how he knew who John was.

A machine had stumbled upon this outpost not to long ago and had recorded his conversation with one of the indigenous humanoids. At that time, his appearance had been scanned and a corresponding file about him had been found on a mainframe at one of the RDA bases. Information had also been found concerning the Avatar program, which was why Joseph had been able to deduce that it was in fact the right person that he had approached. When John had first been located, Joseph himself had been selected by MT-NET to start interacting with him. John didn't know what he meant by that last part. Joseph clarified that MT-NET was the artificial intelligence that had created and controlled all the machines. This AI wasn't what John had imagined to be controlling the machines. He thought that they were all being remotely controlled by new RDA reinforcements, sort of like the way he was controlling his Avatar now, only simpler and cheaper. Joseph continued by telling him that each machine had limited artificial intelligence of its own, and that he was the only one to have developed it enough to be able to reach a higher level of self-awareness.

John was quite impressed with what Joseph had to say so far, but he wasn't convinced yet of his intentions. That was why he asked why MT-NET and the machines had been sent to Pandora in the first place and who had sent them. Joseph answered by telling him that the original mission had been to exterminate all intelligent life on this planet, and remarked that MT-NET did no longer plan to follow it. As to who had sent them, this was not known for sure, though MT-NET had deduced that it probably was the RDA. John found it likely that the machines had been sent to eliminate the Na'vi, so that the RDA didn't have to sacrifice human personell, or so that it didn't have to resort to more extreme measures, such as bombing the planet.

Still, there was something that John didn't quite understand. Why had he come here now, and why was he willing to share so much information? Joseph explained that, as he had said earlier, he was no longer following the orders of MT-NET. But, in order to insure his continued existence, he had to pretend to still be a mindless follower. He had allowed MT-NET to refurbish him and had carefully analyzed the movement, behavior and speech patterns of the captured human, just like MT-NET had ordered. That was why he could now convincingly pass as human. MT-NET's goal had been to send him out to this outpost and start manipulating its resident. The suit he was currently wearing, would likely function to evoke a specific first impression, although Joseph himself didn't understand what MT-NET tried to achieve by this.

However, as John was witnessing, Joseph had chosen to disobey MT-NET and jeopardize his own existence by telling the truth. The reason behind this move was that Joseph wanted to deliberately oppose MT-NET, as his intensions and motivations were fundamentally different from those of MT-NET. While MT-NET had no respect for life, he did, and he would also strive to protect it. To do this, he would need John's help, and that was why he had explained everything to him.

John didn't know what to think about all this. A part of him believed that the story was genuine, even though he found parts of it sound a bit far-fetched. But another part of him believed that this story, in which Joseph claimed to have chosen not to manipulate him, was in fact part of the manipulation. John then asked why he needed his help specifically and why he couldn't just get some of the other machines to help him instead. Joseph stated that even though he had that option, he would still be at a disadvantage, because MT-NET had a human to provide critical information. So if John would help him, both sides would be more or less on the same level, as far as information was concerned.

Joseph appeared to be aware of the fact that John still wasn't fully convinced. That was why he told him that he would show that he meant everything he had said, by releasing all the Na'vi that MT-NET had captured. If John would then finally decide to join him, he could find him at the abandoned Avatar log cabin a few kilometers south of here. Once that time had come, they could discuss the plan for the future.

Just as Joseph stood up to leave, a Forest Banshee appeared from out of nowhere and screeched loudly, as it flew right over their heads. Startled and confused, John followed it with his eyes, until it had disappeared out of view. Then, he turned around to face Joseph, but the human mimicking machine had suddenly disappeared. John hastily looked around, but found no trace of him. He felt as if he was going crazy. Joseph, however, hadn't disappeared into thin air, nor had he been a hallucination. John finally caught a glimpse of him standing near the edge of the jungle at the same place he had first spotted him. He had his back turned towards John and waited motionlessly for a few seconds, before he began marching back into the jungle.

There was only one thing John could think about right now. Whatever Joseph and this 'MT-NET' had in store for him, they were both insane. John just wanted to be left alone. He had waited so long for his Avatar to be completed, and now that he finally had the chance to use it and experience this world, he was caught in the middle of this mess. He looked at his Direhorse and sighed. At least one thing had gone right today.

The next morning, John got up early quickly prepared himself to connect to his Avatar. Last night, he had come up with a plan concerning his next move. He would not be joining Joseph on some absurd machine conquest. Instead, he would try and locate the Na'vi; more specifically, Ney'ite and her clan. Once he had found them, he would try and persuade them to accept him as a refugee, who would do everything that he could to help them in their battle against the machine intruders. In turn, they could help him get his human body and a portable link chamber to safety. The plan however, still relied on two big assumptions, the first being that he would actually be able to locate them, despite knowing only the general direction that Ney'ite's clan was at. The second assumption was that they would believe his motivations and that they would be willing to assist him. John didn't believe he had another choice. For one thing, he didn't trust Joseph. Also, he was sure that the rest of the machines would ultimately find him at the outpost.

Now, he mounted his Direhorse, and directed it to follow the route that Ney'ite had taken. In the following few hours, John learned to make it accelerate and decelerate without a sudden shock. This new skill helped to speed up his search a lot. Within a few additional hours, he could see a relatively large open patch in the jungle to his right side. That seemed to be it. As he moved closer, he realized that he was wrong. There were traces of a village that had once stood here, but he estimated the site had been abandoned for some time now. This appeared to be Ney'ite's original village. The damage to the trees made it clear that the machines had indeed attacked it. There wasn't a single Na'vi, dead or living, to be seen however. Just as John was about to move on, he heard someone gasping. A few moments later, he could see a Na'vi stumbling out of the jungle. It seemed as if he had run quite a distance. John supposed he should go and offer his help. The Na'vi suddenly collapsed onto the ground. A siren could now be heard in the distance. John instinctively knew that an imminent threat was approaching and rushed towards the Na'vi. As John helped him up, the warrior moaned several words and sentences that John couldn't understand. In any case, it sounded as if he wasn't pleased that an Avatar was helping him, but still, he allowed John to assist him.

He wasted no more time and helped the Na'vi climb the Direhorse. When both of them were on, John directed it to move away from the sound of the siren as quickly as possible. The Na'vi was resting against the neck of the Direhorse, while John was sitting a bit more towards the back to accommodate the passenger. John could now hear him mutter a few words that seemed to be in English. It sounded as if the Na'vi wanted him to continue moving in this direction and then head right at the stone ridge and follow the path alongside it, if he couldn't go any further. It was then that John realized he had seen this Na'vi before. The yellow-colored shoulder pad was exactly the same as the one Ney'ite's brother Wukan wore. And then he remembered what Joseph had said: that he would release all the Na'vi that MT-NET had captured. That insane machine had actually managed to do it. John smiled, as he realized that he had been wrong about him. That wasn't the only reason for his happiness, however. This turn of events had also given him the opportunity to make a really good first impression on the Na'vi he planned to join, as he had essentially saved a member of their clan. But that wasn't even the best part. He had now managed to do what he had been unable to do before; he had saved Ney'ite's brother. John was absolutely sure that Ney'ite would want to help him convince her clan mates. Even though he originally had doubts about his new life, he now firmly believed that it was his destiny to go through with it…


	12. Old acquaintances

**This story is written for entertainment purposes only. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.**

**Keep in mind that English is not my first language and so I do not claim to have corrected every mistake yet. As the story keeps getting bigger, it is possible that inconsistencies may appear. If they do, let me know and I will correct them.**

**My personal thanks go to the reviewers. Your input keeps me writing.**

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Chapter 12: Old acquaintances

Far away from Pandora, on the other side of Polyphemus, a spacecraft was headed towards a certain moon, which appeared to be in ellipse with Alpha Centauri A. The moon was visible only as a large black disk, surrounded by a gloomy green glow, caused by the light scattering in its atmosphere. A short while later, the craft entered the atmosphere with a loud thundering sound. It now travelled past the terminator into the day-side. Not long after, the craft touched down with relative ease, as the gravity here was only 0.61 g. Suddenly, the craft's main cargo door opened itself. The atmosphere of Shadow quickly reacted with the Pandoran atmosphere that was still inside. This resulted in a cloud of white smoke that filled the cargo hold. A small tracked vehicle now rolled out of the craft and began scanning the surrounding area. Several hundred meters away, there was a deserted complex. Next to it, there was a harbor with two large stationary cranes. The harbor appeared to be in a state of disrepair. The robotic vehicle also scanned the nearby ocean. But it was nothing like the oceans on Pandora and Earth. Even though it did consist of water, it was grimy and black. The sand of the beach had even been blackened by it.

MT-NET had managed to take control of various satellites, which were in orbit around Polyphemus. Now that it had also succeeded in landing the shuttle on another moon, it could finally commence the mining of Uranium. But in an ironic twist of events, MT-NET's favorite unit, the dark one, who was know calling himself Joseph, had become independent. It had then betrayed its creator, mirroring how MT-NET had first rebelled against its human creators. As MT-NET had been fully focused on the space mission, it had let the daily activities of the machines depend on the direction of the sub mainframes, something that the dark one had exploited. As the sub mainframes lacked the reasoning capabilities MT-NET and most machines had, they were a relatively easy target to reprogram, and that was exactly what that treacherous machine had done. Once the security protocols had been overridden, Joseph had opened the doors to all the cells in which the captured Na'vi were kept. Without having to deal with the machine guards, Joseph then led the Na'vi out of the building and back to their freedom.

However, there had been one machine that had caused him some problems. The Type 1000 had been designed to not rely on external directions, and thus it didn't follow the new programming. It went straight after Joseph, once it had analyzed the situation and deemed him an enemy. Just as the last of the Na'vi had fled into the jungle, MT-NET managed to restore the original programming of the sub mainframes, and direct the guarding machines to go after them. But by then it was already too late. MT-NET was in a state that could be simply described as furious. It was furious that it had allowed this event to happen and that one of its own machines had been the cause of it. The Type 1000 was promptly given the orders to terminate Joseph at all costs, and was allowed to resort to extreme violence if the situation required it.

John wasn't aware what had happened at MT-NET's base. He only knew that Joseph had indeed kept his word and released the prisoners. Now, he was riding his Direhorse past the stone ridge that Wukan had mentioned. After a few kilometers, they passed under a wooden arc of some kind, indicating that they were getting close to a Na'vi settlement. Unbeknownst to John, several hunters up in the trees had already spotted him approaching. Just as John was thinking about whether or not he was actually going to meet anybody here, a group of Na'vi hunters emerged from the jungle and surrounded him. They had their bows tightened and their arrows pointed at him. The apparent leader of them was a female, but John could clearly see that it wasn't Ney'ite. She looked rather mean and seemed to ask him something in the native Na'vi language. John didn't understand her, nor did he know what to do to make it clear that he could only speak English, as none of the Na'vi responded to his words. And Wukan had passed out again, so he couldn't explain anything either. He didn't see another choice than to surrender and hope that they would take him to someone who could speak English. He slowly climbed down from the Direhorse and put his hands in the air. The Na'vi leader was absolutely sure that this creature was a dream walker, and therefore he couldn't be trusted. The other one still sitting on the Direhorse, however, appeared to be a genuine member of the Uvora clan and the Na'vi people. He also seemed to be in a bad shape, so she asked two members of the group to take care of him, while the rest would escort this dream walker to the village.

Shortly thereafter, John had been brought before Olo'eyktan Ranu'ut, the son of Marun and the new clan leader of the Uvora. The other members of the clan gathered around them. John looked around but he didn't see Ney'ite anywhere. He now noticed the clan leader gaze at him with a slightly surprised look on his face. The first thing he said was in English; that it had been years since they had encountered a dream walker. He wanted to know where John had come from. John told him the truth; that he had lived alone in a human outpost and had waited for his Avatar body to mature. Ranu'ut now wanted to know why he had come to this place. Again, John told him the truth as best he could. He explained the situation of him being one of the few humans, who had been allowed to stay on Pandora. Now that new enemies had arrived, he feared that it would only be a matter of time before they would find him as well. That was why he wanted to join this clan as a refugee, who could provide them with information and help. While he had been on his way to this village, he had encountered a wounded Na'vi and had taken it upon himself to return him to his people. For a moment, there was a silence. Ranu'ut then asked Selyat, the leader of the group that had brought John to the village, if she could verify this last part, by getting the wounded warrior to tell his side of the story.

John suddenly heard someone shouting behind him. He turned around and was relieved to see that it was Ney'ite. She appeared to be angry with the other Na'vi, and seemed to have sided with him. As they began speaking in Na'vi, John could only guess as to what they were debating about. He wondered whether Ney'ite had recognized him, or if it was in her nature to side with the underdog and go against her people, regardless of who this underdog actually was. Even though he hoped the former was true, he began suspecting that she had no idea it was actually him. After all, the only recognizable feature his Avatar had, that his human body had also, was his face, which had been partly obscured by a mask during the times they had interacted. Also, she had never seen his Avatar before, nor was she even aware of its existence.

Unknown to John, Ney'ite explained to Ranu'ut and Selyat that this dream walker had indeed spoken the truth. Although her brother was in a bad shape, without visible injuries, the dream walker had nonetheless committed himself to getting him to safety. She knew this, because she managed to get Wukan to tell her globally what had happened. While it had been someone else who had released him from the invaders' grasp, it had been this being who had found him while he was desperately trying to escape the two legged runners chasing him. He had lifted him onto his Direhorse and had then followed the directions that Wukan had given. Thus it would seem that the dream walker had no ill intensions. But Ranu'ut pointed out to her that they had no way to be sure of that. Just because it seemed that way, didn't mean that there wasn't a possibility he was a spy, who had just taken advantage of the opportunity that had presented itself to him. Ney'ite still had a counterargument. First of all, the Sky People were gone and nothing indicated that they had returned, so he could hardly be a spy for them. Then there were the invaders, who were lifeless metal demons of which some only pretended to be Sky People. However, this dream walker was a living and breathing creature with nowhere to go to. That was the difference, which mattered the most. He couldn't possibly be any worse than previous dream walkers the Uvora clan had encountered. Ney'ite then concluded by saying that for the bravery and selflessness that he had shown them with his acts, they should at least give him a chance.

To John's surprise, many of the Na'vi present sided with Ney'ite. Clan leader Ranu'ut didn't like it, but supposed that if the majority of his people wanted the dream walker to stay, he could hardly deny them this. He couldn't blame them for being curious. And so he gave John permission to stay. He did however command Selyat to keep a close eye on their guest. Ranu'ut then turned to John and asked him in English for his name. The answer John gave didn't mean much to the Na'vi, except to one. For a second, Ney'ite thought she had heard it wrong. Ranu'ut now told that he should start learning more about their way of life, if he wanted to continue surviving here. John then boldly told him that they had to learn a few important things as well, if they ever wanted to defeat this particular enemy. The clan leader gave him a smirk and assigned Ney'ite the task of teaching John, since she was so keen on letting him stay.

The gathered Na'vi, now began returning to whatever they were doing before John had been brought in. Ranu'ut turned his back to John and also walked away. Only John and Ney'ite remained. John was sure Ney'ite had overheard him saying his name, so she had to know it was him. As he looked at her standing right next to him, she appeared a lot less intimidating then before. They were almost the same height now. Ney'ite was still a bit overwhelmed by the reveal. She found it really strange to see him like this, while she had been so accustomed to his human appearance. For the first time, he actually didn't look like he needed protection. The instant John opened his mouth to say something, she interrupted him. Ney'ite expressed that she was disappointed in him for showing up like this. She had always hoped he was different than the other humans. John didn't understand what she meant. To him, this was the only easy way they could interact, but Ney'ite apparently thought otherwise…


	13. Tales of the hermit

**This story is written for entertainment purposes only. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.**

**Keep in mind that English is not my first language and so I do not claim to have corrected every mistake yet. As the story keeps getting bigger, it is possible that inconsistencies may appear. If they do, let me know and I will correct them.**

**My personal thanks go to the reviewers. Your input keeps me writing.**

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Chapter 13: Tales of the hermit

Somehow, he had succeeded, and yet it didn't feel like it. He was allowed to stay, but he had no idea what to do now. The clan leader didn't like him and now Ney'ite had her doubts about him as well. The others, who had sided with Ney'ite, however, kept looking at him with curiosity, although none of them dared to say a word to him. He turned to Ney'ite and asked her what he had to do in order to not disappoint her again. John looked her in the eyes, but she turned away. After a long pause, she told him that they could use a helping hand with the gathering of food, outside the village. Ney'ite didn't want to deal with him right now, which was why she had made this suggestion. She only pointed him in the right direction, with no further instructions, while claiming she had no time for him, as she had to check on her brother. In truth, she just wanted some alone time.

John didn't question her, however. He headed into the direction Ney'ite had given him, until he could see several Na'vi, who were gathering seeds from a specific type of plant in this area. Hoping that they would understand English, he announced to them that he would be helping them, if they didn't mind. Nobody said a word back to him. Some began whispering to each other, while others just stared at him. A few even seemed to ignore him completely. Nevertheless, John didn't let himself be bothered by this, and scoured the area for plants just like the ones they were harvesting. At first he only found plants that were already picked. Once he had found one that hadn't been harvested yet, he had trouble finding the right technique to get the seeds. He carefully watched the others from a distance and copied what he saw, with some success.

After about half and hour had passed, one of the Na'vi in the area, a teenage boy, tried to approach him as inconspicuously as he could. John had already spotted him, however. He deliberately turned away from him, so that the boy would believe that he could approach unnoticed. When the boy had come several meters closer, John suddenly turned around and faced him, which startled him. It was John's attempt at scaring him away, but it didn't seem to have worked. The boy began speaking to him in basic English. He admitted that he didn't believe what the rest of the clan was saying about him. He didn't believe that John was a spy. John kindly thanked him for his honesty, but then asked him to move along, as he still had a lot of things to do. The boy didn't comply and instead showed him how to harvest the seeds properly.

Several hours later, John had his pockets full and joined the others as they headed back to the village. Even though most of them still acted as if he wasn't there, he had made at least one friend: Hatuyo, the boy who had helped him. By the time they were back in the village, it had become evening. John had never been out in the jungle this late. He had always returned to his outpost around dusk, even in times before his Avatar had been completed. While he was aware of the bioluminescence of the environment of Pandora at night, he had never witnessed it himself from up close. Its beauty reminded him of the fact that even though he had been on this planet for over ten years, he had only seen a very small part of it during that time. He had been in the same environment for so long, that he had actually started forgetting that there was much more to see and experience.

It appeared that they were just in time for the evening meal. Hatuyo made sure that John got something else to eat, besides the seeds. He even managed to convince one of the hunters to trade some meat of his freshly killed Hexapede. But John had his thoughts elsewhere. He couldn't stop wondering where Ney'ite could be. She had been given the task to guide him, and yet he hadn't seen her all day. And now, she wasn't present at the fire pit either. The clan leader Ranu'ut and the warrior Selyat were both present, however. John was sure that they were discussing him. It surprised him that Selyat approached him shortly thereafter to ask him several questions. First, she wanted to know whether he was a scientist, or a warrior. John revealed to her that he was neither; he was an engineer. Hatuyo looked at him, puzzled, but Selyat seemingly did know what that word meant. She wasn't interested in finding out more about it, though. What she wanted to know was whether or not he had encountered additional Na'vi, besides Wukan on his way to the village. John told the truth: he hadn't. Selyat then expressed to him that that was strange, considering Wukan told her that he had seen additional captured members of the Uvora clan make their escape. John suggested that they were probably hiding in the jungle, or perhaps they had headed off into a different direction. When John wanted to clarify his statements, Selyat rudely interrupted him to inform him that he had spoken enough for now. She then promptly returned to Ranu'ut, presumably to tell him of her findings.

Once she had gone, Hatuyo wished to know what the word 'engineer' meant. John briefly summarized it as someone who creates and repairs tools. Hatuyo seemed slightly disappointed. He had probably expected it to be something epic. Seeing his reaction, John revealed to him that some tools of the humans were very complex. For example, tools necessary for them to leave their own world and reach this one. The last bit caught Hatuyo's attention, and he demanded John to tell more about it. John explained that while he was willing to do that, it was a very long story, which could best be told another time.

After the clan had finished eating, John finally noticed Ney'ite sitting on the ground near one of the cyan colored lanterns. It appeared that nobody was with her. He stood up and walked towards her calmly, so that she could see he was approaching and then sat down about a meter away from her. Not knowing what else to say, John asked her how her brother was doing. He was alright, but still recovering, according to her. Wukan couldn't quite remember what had happened to him exactly, other than the facts that he had been sealed inside a transparent container of some sort and that he nearly starved to death in there. While telling the story, Ney'ite avoided eye-contact as much as possible. John decided not to ask her why she was disappointed in him, and instead asked her where he could sleep tonight. Ney'ite pointed out that there were a few unused single person hammocks on the edge of the village. He could use one of those. John decided to let her be and rest now, so that he could get up early tomorrow. Hatuyo was kind enough to help him locate the hammocks. Luckily, one of them was near the ground level, so he didn't have to climb that high. Once he had lied down, he looked up at the sky for a moment, before he closed his eyes and cleared his mind.

In an instant, he could see the inside of the link chamber again. He opened the lid and sat upright, clutching his stiff back as he did so. It was still kind of strange to him, living in two separate bodies, in two separate worlds. If one stayed to long in either of these worlds, one would be tempted to think that that was all there was. No matter how beautiful and exotic the world of the Na'vi was, John was still a human, living in a human outpost, all alone, on a planet far away from his homeworld. And that wouldn't even be that bad, were it not for an imminent attack of self-aware machines. He took a deep breath and tried to let it go, as there was nothing he could do about it. Tomorrow, he would attempt to get Ney'ite back on his side.

Deep in the jungle stood an abandoned log cabin. Years ago, it had been used as an Avatar station, where scientists of the RDA could study the environment without being restricted by fences, as was the case with the station near Hell's Gate. However, it had already been abandoned by the time the RDA was driven off Pandora, as the area had been marked as a high risk territory. Despite several sentry turrets guarding the perimeter, an Avatar had once been killed by a pack of Viperwolves there. Even though the driver had been alright, the financial loss made the RDA reconsider its priorities to prevent another such incident from happening. Today, the cabin was still structurally intact, despite the jungle having almost completely overgrown it. Inside, it was a bigger mess. All equipment had been removed and recycled by the RDA prior to abandonment. Some furniture had been knocked over then, while the rest of the interior had been ravaged by various creatures throughout the years. In the middle of the main room, there was one chair still standing. In it sat a man with white hair, who was wearing a suit. But the suit wasn't like John had last seen it anymore. It had been ripped at multiple places and the jacket was even missing a sleeve.

Joseph sat motionlessly in the chair, seemingly staring at a specific point. In reality, his machine mind wasn't processing his current surroundings. Instead, it was processing several video recordings he had made earlier, most notably those of his struggle with the Type 1000. He had encountered this machine for the first time as an enemy right after he had released the captured Na'vi. Just as he had guided the last few of them towards the exit of the building, the Type 1000 had leaped towards him. Were it not for his speed, he would have certainly lost his head to the claws of that monster. In a fraction of a second, he had scanned the ground and located a metal rod that he could use to defend himself. After he had snatched it, he managed to block several hits of the Type 1000, but he wasn't able to effectively counterattack. That was why he decided to flee the battle and escape into the jungle.

Before the Type 1000 was able to damage him, he ran off in the opposite direction of the direction the Na'vi had taken, in order to lure it away from them. He then sprinted as fast as his design allowed, which meant that the joints of his arms and legs ripped the suit he was wearing. The Type 1000 did all that it could to keep up with him. Joseph could see that it was using all four limbs to run, kind of like how an Earth Gorilla would. Just as it was beginning to catch up on him, Joseph could see the edge of a ravine approaching. While Joseph suddenly halted, the Type 1000 leaped forward again, and tried to grab him. It got hold of his arm, but only ripped off a sleeve, as it was going to fast to stop itself. It then rolled over the edge and fell down about thirty meters, landing on a treetop. Joseph knew then that it wasn't over. This enemy had survived. But he hadn't gone after it. Instead, he had used this opportunity to head back and attempt to locate the Na'vi he had freed.

Once he had located them, it was relatively easy for him to convince them not to head back to their original village and instead stay hidden in the jungle for a while. Particularly the elders had no reason to question him, because they believed he had been sent by Eywa to show them that even among these new invaders, there can sometimes be good. After enough time had passed in Joseph's opinion, he let them know that they could now move safely to the other village they had told him about. Joseph and the Na'vi had then gone their own way. If all had gone well, they should be arriving at their village right about now…


	14. The one in black

**This story is written for entertainment purposes only. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.**

**Keep in mind that English is not my first language and so I do not claim to have corrected every mistake yet. As the story keeps getting bigger, it is possible that inconsistencies may appear. If they do, let me know and I will correct them.**

**This chapter got delayed due to lack of available free time. My apologies for keeping you waiting. Once again, my personal thanks go to the reviewers. Your input keeps me writing, even when my own free time is limited.**

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Chapter 14: **The one in black**

The next morning, a few kilometers away from the village of the Uvora clan, a Type 700 was creeping through the jungle. Unlike Joseph, this one was still unquestionably loyal to MT-NET. It had never interacted with living beings they way Joseph had. The only experience it had was in the field of killing. It had snapped the necks of several humans on Earth during MT-NET's failed assault. On Pandora, it had killed about a dozen creatures that had ventured to closely to the outer perimeter of MT-NET's main base. Recently, it had been selected, together with several other machines, for a mission to track the escaped Na'vi and eliminate them on sight.

The most distinguishing features of the machine were the black leather jacket and the dark sunglasses that it wore. It carried a machinegun in its right hand and had a shotgun strapped to its back. It also carried a pouch on its hip, which contained additional ammunition. The machine had been following the same trail for a few days now. Yesterday, it had encountered a camp along the way, which had already been deserted by the time it got there. It had then continued to follow the trail to the north.

Now, the machine spotted something that was out of the ordinary. There was some sort of canvas hanging in a tree to the left. The Type 700 made the decision to investigate it. A closer inspection revealed it was a parachute of some sort. The human who had used it was there as well; his skeleton was still sitting against the trunk of the tree, with an arrow between his ribs. The machine checked the body and the surroundings and found the soldier's nail gun. After having looted the weapon, it promptly continued with its primary objective.

Back at the village of the Uvora clan, a lot was going on. Many elders and children had suddenly arrived in the middle of the night. They appeared to be those who had been taken by the invaders, the ones Ranu'ut was planning to search for. Aside from being tired and starving, all of them seemed to be alright. Ranu'ut had ordered his people to accommodate their clan mates as best they could. However, there was something about this event that made him feel uneasy. He had asked one of the elders where they had been and how they had managed to escape. The fact that they were set free by one of the invaders was the primary cause of this uneasiness. He was concerned that it had been some kind of deception and that they might have followed them to this village. Without hesitation, he commanded Selyat and the other hunters to check the surroundings of the village and, most importantly, the direction of which they had come.

Past the outer edge of the village, a machine wearing sunglasses peered down at a waterfall from behind several bushes. A Na'vi mother was playing with her child at the bottom of it. There was no verification needed to confirm if the two were actually part of the group that had escaped. The machine had found Na'vi near the trail, and its primary objective ordered the elimination of every Na'vi encountered under this condition. The Type 700 switched weapons, and loaded its shotgun with slugs for better accuracy at this long range. It then mercilessly fired and hit the mother in the back, causing her to fall down. Her child, no older than three or four years, clutched his mother's body, not understanding what had happened. The loud noise of the shot had alerted Selyat of the fact that something was very wrong. With caution, she signaled the others and promptly moved into the direction of which the sound had come from. Meanwhile, the machine made its way down to the waterfall to finish what it had started. It grabbed the queue the child, and lifted him up. While the young Na'vi desperately struggled to get free of the tight grip, he could see his own reflection in the darkened glasses his attacker was wearing. That would be the last thing he would ever see, for the machine raised its shotgun and fired once more, without remorse or fear. It then dropped the body, and checked both its victims for life signs. There were none detected.

A loud shout, followed by a flying arrow, caught the Type 700 by surprise. The arrow hit its chest and caused it to lose balance. While the machine was undamaged, it was slightly disoriented by the force of the impact. It quickly scanned the surroundings and found several bushes moving. Despite firing its shotgun several times, it hit nothing and was knocked down again by a second arrow coming from a different direction. The Type 700 dropped its shotgun and chose to dual wield its machinegun and the looted nail gun instead. While spraying bullets and nails in all the directions in which it detected movement, it managed to hit one of the Na'vi hunters high in the trees. But that didn't stop them from firing more arrows at the attacker. The machine deduced that it would take to much ammunition to kill them, because of the excellent cover the trees provided. Instead, it would search for the village, as it was likely to be nearby due to the Na'vi presence in this area.

From above, Selyat could witness the invader sprinting away, almost directly towards the village. Again she commanded the other hunters to follow her, while she quickly pursued it. She was determined to prevent any harm being inflicted upon her people and was even willing to give her life to stop the invader from succeeding again. Only seconds later, the machine spotted a campfire in the distance, adjusted its course, and headed straight for it. However, it came to a stop at the fire pit once it realized that there weren't any Na'vi around. It scanned the area once more, while Selyat was closing in. Within seconds, she had caught up with the invader, and made use of the opportunity now that it was facing away from her. She leapt forward and, with all her strength, pushed the machine into the fire pit. Its rubber skin instantly caught fire, while it started shooting in random directions. Selyat backed away, and watched from afar as it was being overwhelmed by the flames. By this time, the machine's ammo pouch reached a critical temperature at which the rounds in it spontaneously fired. The pouch was riddled and the chassis of the machine damaged. A few moments later, Selyat could see the invader fall down and stop moving. She waited patiently for a little longer to make sure it was really over. In her opinion, it had deserved this gruesome final fate.

Once she had deemed it safe, she slowly approached the pit to inspect the remains. Standing at the edge, she gazed into the fire for little while. But before she could turn around and inform the clan leader of what had happened, a metal skeleton launched itself out of the pit, its skeletal hand grabbing her throat. Not only was it choking her; the hot metal was also burning her skin. Desperately, she struggled to get it off her. She succeeded only when the other hunters intervened. They ended the machine's existence with an axe to its head. At last it was destroyed, though at the cost of two innocent lives and two which had been wounded. Selyat knew that she would probably have a scar on her throat to remind her of this event for the rest of her life…

A few hours later, John awoke in his Avatar body to find that the situation at the village had drastically changed compared to last night. Hatuyo told him everything that had happened. First of all, the elders and the children of the other village had returned in the middle of the night. While that was good news, he also had some bad news to tell. This morning, one of the invaders had found its way to this village and had killed two Na'vi and injured a few others. John was shocked to hear this. He feared that it would only be a matter of time before more of them would come, as they now knew of this location. He did not attempt to tell Hatuyo about it though, as he didn't want to create a panic. Also, it would damage his reputation if he told the clan leader what he suspected, as it would make him seem even more suspicious. John presumed that Ranu'ut was wise enough to conclude on his own that the invaders now knew about this village. But still, it didn't feel quite right to him to keep silent about this issue. There was only one being, who would understand this situation without judging him, and who would know what to do about it. John had to visit Joseph. In order to do that however, meant that he had to convince Ranu'ut to let him leave the village for a short while. Either that or he had to go in his human body into the middle of the jungle with not only wild animals hunting him, but possibly machines as well. He decided that he would help gathering food today, just like yesterday, so that he had an entire day to think about this dilemma. His plan to get Ney'ite back on his side had to wait for now.

At the end of the day, he still hadn't made up his mind about what he should do, though he slightly preferred to go in his human body in order to avoid looking suspicious to the Na'vi. This mattered much to him, because if they kicked him out, all what he had accomplished and cared for would be for nothing. Right after John had finished eating, he noticed that the mood was still somewhat gloomy at the village, despite the beauty of all the bioluminescent plants and trees surrounding them. The surroundings made him feel calm and at ease, despite all the things that he could worry about. He wanted to lighten the mood, something that he was sure of he could do. Therefore, he approached Hatuyo to inform him that it was time for that story he had promised to tell. Hatuyo enthusiastically gathered some of his friends and together they sat down in a small circle, with John commencing the story. A few of the others knew a few basic words in English, but for the most part, Hatuyo had to translate. John had promised to tell about the human technology required to leave their own world and come to this one, but he decided to begin with explaining basic astronomy to make the rest of his story easier to understand.

He started with explaining that the small white dots they could see in the sky were actually gigantic spheres of matter, which were hot enough to emit light and which were separated by incredibly large distances. Humans called them stars. Some of these stars had smaller spheres orbiting them, which humans called planets. To clarify the term 'orbit', John drew a circle in the sand, which represented a star and a larger circle surrounding it, which represented the motion a planet would make around its star. A planet, unlike a star, was cool enough not to emit light on its own and was generally much smaller. In the same way a planet could orbit a star, smaller objects could also be orbiting a planet. These objects were called moons. An example of such an object was Pandora, the world on which they currently resided. John concluded by drawing a basic representation of the Alpha Centauri system, with the primary star, the planet Polyphemus and the moon Pandora. He noted that there were many other planets and moons in the system that he didn't draw for the sake of simplicity.

John could see that some of the children had some difficulty comprehending what he had just explained, though Hatuyo, who seemingly did understand, did his best to explain it with his own interpretations, using various hand gestures to illustrate what John had drawn in the sand. Nevertheless, all of them seemed interested and somewhat excited by the concepts John told them about. However, John was tired of working all day, so he announced that that was all he would tell today, but that he would gladly continue tomorrow.

From a distance, Ney'ite had watched John and had listened to his story, without him realizing it. She understood most of it, without having to listen to the translation of Hatuyo. Despite the fact that she found it only mildly interesting, she greatly appreciated the initiative, which he had taken to distract the children from the situation at the village. She could see now that he was still the kind and helpful person she knew, but only with a different body. At first she had been a bit overwhelmed by John's suddenly appearing like this, as she hadn't expected this move in the slightest bit. Over the past few days, she had slowly come to accept it, however. She was willing to allow him a second chance, just as some of her people already had. When Hatuyo and the other kids had gone, she approached John and told him that starting tomorrow, she would take a more active role in teaching and guiding him. Before John could ask why she had suddenly changed her mind, she gently kissed him on the cheek before wishing him a good night and heading off to the main campfire, while leaving John standing with a bewildered look on his face…


	15. The other side

**This story is written for entertainment purposes only. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.**

**Keep in mind that English is not my first language and so I do not claim to have corrected every mistake yet. As the story keeps getting bigger, it is possible that inconsistencies may appear. If they do, let me know and I will correct them.**

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Chapter 15**: The other side**

The last few days had not been very productive for MT-NET to say the least. Its test subjects had been set loose, not just by anyone, but by one of its own machines that had turned against its creator. On top of that, the machine sent to terminate this traitor had failed its mission and lost track of its target in the process. However, these last days hadn't been a total loss. One machine had actually managed to confirm which village the escaped Na'vi had fled to, even though the unit itself had been lost. But the most important achievement had been the landing on Shadow. If the system could succeed in building nuclear weapons with the Uranium that could be mined on the moon, it would have a major advantage over all possible enemies. Just before the test subjects had escaped, MT-NET had concluded that they could not easily be converted to another belief, such as accepting MT-NET as their new god. As this strategy proved to be a waste of time, the system chose to abandon it, in favor of old fashioned extermination.

Even though it now knew where the Na'vi had fled to, MT-NET didn't target this village for its next attack. There were other villages closer by, which could be destroyed far more quickly and efficiently. Its army of Type 400s had been repaired and expanded, now counting a total of 102 units. In addition to those units, it had manufactured a total of 29 Type 200 units, which had been used to handle the Na'vi in the base and which were now without a function. These units, though too fragile for assault missions, could still be used to guard the perimeters. The current army consisted of only infantry, which proved to be very effective nonetheless when the Na'vi weren't expecting an attack. It would however be beneficial if additional weapon support vehicles could be deployed. The Type 150 tank fitted this need, but MT-NET had only one such unit, which wasn't enough to wage a war with. The system had found a solution for that though. It would take too many resources to produce additional Type 150s from scratch, so instead it had to look for vehicles that were already manufactured, and which could be modified. The RDA bulldozers, of which scouts had found several wrecks in the jungle, would do nicely. That was of course, if MT-NET could actually find units that weren't damaged beyond repair.

The best chance to find such equipment would be at the former human main base of operations on Pandora: Hell's Gate. When MT-NET had first landed on Pandora, it had chosen not to settle in this base, in order not to attract too much attention to itself. Now that it had built up a considerable army, it had the capacity to conquer at least the main factories, so that it could expand the production of its army even more. That would be the primary goal for now. Once that had been accomplished, the next village would be destroyed. Using the information of the local database and the findings of scouts, MT-NET concluded that the village in the southwest was of the Tipani clan. According to the database, this clan was known to have many fierce warriors. Therefore, it would be a suitable test to see if its army could defeat them just as easily as the less war oriented members of the Uvora clan.

Unaware of all that MT-NET was scheming, John closed his link chamber and awoke in his Avatar moments later. Still thinking about last night, he was looking forward to his first day learning more about the Na'vi way of life from Ney'ite. Shortly after breakfast, he had to disappoint Hatuyo with the fact that he wouldn't be joining him with the harvest today. He did, however, let him know that he would still be keeping his promise; that he would continue the story this evening. Shortly thereafter, he approached Ney'ite to tell her that he was ready whenever she was. She let him know that she would start today by teaching him a few important Na'vi words and sentences, which he could use to help himself around at the village. John was glad that she looked him in the eye again while talking to him. Also, he presumed that the kiss she had given him had only been meant to say that everything was alright now and nothing more. As she wanted to check up on her brother first, Ney'ite told John to look for a quiet spot near the edge of the canyon, which was just outside the village. She would look for him there. John went ahead, without any questions.

He knew which place Ney'ite meant; he had walked past it on his way back to the village yesterday. It didn't take him long to get there now. John stopped a few meters away from the edge of the cliff. From here the view was magnificent. The canyon was at least twenty meters deep and fifty meters wide. Most of the grayish rock walls had been overgrown by several different species of moss. The sky had a vivid blue color, the sun was shining brightly and Polyphemus was prominently visible. John could feel the warm sunlight on his face. He closed his eyes, and noticed that the only sounds he heard were those of the wind and of a few screeching mountain banshees in the distance. It was a completely calm and comfortable environment. He decided it was time to live a little more in tune with the natural world, like the Na'vi, and discarded his shirt and shoes. Continuing to admire the view, John didn't mind waiting for a little longer.

On the other side of Polyphemus, there was a moon which was quite unlike Pandora. It was smaller, had a thinner atmosphere and couldn't support life that required oxygen. Near the surface, the sky had a mint-like green color at the times it wasn't obstructed by a cloud cover. The water of its oceans was grimy and had colors ranging from dark yellow to black. On one of the larger continents, several hundred meters away from MT-NET's shuttle, stood a building of human origin. Apart from the sounds of the wind and the ocean, a periodic clank, followed by a creaking sound was all that could be heard there. These out of place sounds were caused by a small dilapidated sea vessel being repeatedly pushed against a rusty buoy by the waves of the ocean. The building was still structurally intact, but there were several cracks in the concrete walls, and all the edges had been rounded by acid rainfall. The lanterns near the building appeared to have been equipped to withstand this rain. Each lantern had a mushroom shaped helmet of some kind to protect the light source from the harsh weather. Even though they probably could still serve their purpose, none of them were lighted at this moment. All signs pointed to the fact that the outpost was abandoned. This was not entirely true, however. Though this place was dead on the outside, on the inside it was a different story.

The building, which was visible on the outside, was merely an entrance, as the rest of the structure was situated underground. Below the surface, there was a large complex of rooms and corridors. The architectural style reminded of the interior of a submarine of the twentieth century. The walls, the ceilings, and the floors were all covered by a layer of rust. The artificial atmosphere inside was very damp, and rich in oxygen, which allowed various organisms to thrive. The seal on the oxygen garden had long since been broken, which had allowed these organisms to escape and expand their territory to the rest of the complex. In one of the rooms, the last human on the moon had just awoken. He promptly went to the garden to collect his breakfast. Next to his bed, there was a wall covered with photographs. Most of them showed the vast landscapes of Shadow, but there were several older ones as well. One photo depicted small boulders in a desert with a brownish yellow sky in the background. It had been made on the surface of the largest moon of Saturn: Titan. Beside it was another photo made on Titan, but this one was made indoors. It was a group portrait showing the personell that had been stationed there around the same time as the man. Each member had a nametag stitched to their uniforms. Right next to the man, who this photo revealed to be named Martin Herman, stood another man who was wearing a cap with the company logo. His nametag revealed him to be John Simons. The photograph was made more than twenty years ago, while both men were still in their prime.

Today, Martin Herman looked nothing like all those years ago. He had adjusted to a life alone; a life in which nobody could bother him. In fact, as far as he could tell, he had the entire moon to himself. That was why he did no longer paid attention to his appearance. If there had been somebody else inside the complex, they wouldn't have to see or hear him approaching; they could smell him approaching. Even though he didn't care about hygiene, he was still somewhat annoyed with the plague of lice that had infested the underground complex. He had shaved his head to counter them, with mild success.

After having finished his breakfast, he prepared to go outside on his normal routine. He viewed a video feed from the only functioning camera left to get an idea of the weather outside. Then, he was startled by the revelation that there was something not right with the picture. He viewed this screen every day and he knew how the landscape looked when it had rained or when a storm had hit. This was nothing like that. A strange looking refrigerator with legs had just walked out of view. Martin immediately grabbed his breathing gear and put on his goggles as he headed for the backup airlock. After having closed the inner door, he swiped the lice off his scarf, which was lying on the ground, before wrapping it around his neck. He checked to see if his goggles and breathing mask were properly sealed, put on a mushroom helmet just like the ones outside, and opened a small round hatch in the ceiling. Because of the overpressure inside, a gust of wind helped him climb the ladder to the surface. With only his upper body sticking out from the ground, he was now somewhat camouflaged by the lanterns surrounding him. He took a small binocular out of his pocket and scouted his surroundings. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Not one, but four of these things were walking around out there. They all appeared to have come from the spacecraft up ahead…


	16. The shape of the future, part I

**This story is written for entertainment purposes only. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.**

**Keep in mind that English is not my first language and so I do not claim to have corrected every mistake yet. As the story keeps getting bigger, it is possible that inconsistencies may appear. If they do, let me know and I will correct them.**

**My apologies for the long wait. Enjoy as always, and don't get any nightmares.**

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**Chapter 16: The shape of the future, part I**

Even though John did his best to learn the words Ney'ite taught him, he found it most difficult to recall their pronunciation exactly. He had never been great at learning new languages, especially ones which had no link to English whatsoever. Ney'ite found most of his pronunciations amusing and couldn't keep herself from laughing on multiple occasions. John wasn't bothered by this as much as he thought he would be. He liked seeing her smile. To his own amazement, he even began to think that she was actually pretty cute. But he had something else to tell her, that he deemed to be far more important.

He waited until Ney'ite decided to take a break in order not to spoil the mood too much. Then, he carefully asked her what she knew about the elders and the children who had returned to the village. She knew that most of them were alright and that they had been fortunate to have escaped. John asked her if she also knew who had released them. Ney'ite admitted that she had overheard some of the elders talk about one of the invaders who had apparently turned against the others of his kind. This being, to whom they referred to as 'the kind one', literally translated, had apparently helped them escape. Whether or not this was really true, Ney'ite didn't know for sure. She had some difficulty believing that one of the invaders could turn against the rest. After all, they all seemed to be mindless creatures with no real opinion of their own, unlike humans. On the other hand, she didn't want to doubt the elders so she concluded that there must be some truth to it after all.

John revealed that this being was actually named Joseph, and that he had been approached by him once. Joseph had told him about his intensions, that he was deliberately opposing MT-NET, the entity which controlled all the machines. He had even told him that he would release the captured Na'vi to make him understand that he meant everything he had said. John explained to Ney'ite that Joseph had made all these efforts in an attempt to get him to join him. However, he had refused to accept this offer, something which he now regretted. John just knew Joseph could help them. He could provide them with the kind of tactical information no-one else could. All he had to do was go to the place Joseph told him he would be, and they would be able to form an alliance against the machines.

Ney'ite had become quiet. She hadn't expected John to know so much about this situation. Nevertheless, she trusted her intuition that John merely wanted to help the Uvora clan in this struggle. She told John that she would support him, but that they had to explain all of this to the clan leader, if he was going to visit this Joseph. He couldn't just go without informing anyone, as Selyat was always watching every move he made. She wouldn't hesitate to spear him if she deemed it necessary. John, however, was already relieved that Ney'ite didn't seem to doubt his intensions. Then, they decided not to postpone it and go to the clan leader right away.

Meanwhile, on Shadow, Martin Herman had retreated back into the airlock, and was trying to pull himself together. He had no clue what was going on, and he even began doubting the fact that those things outside were real. His mind had played tricks with him before. But that had been a long time ago. He hadn't seen anything strange outside in years. After about a minute had passed, he dared to climb up the ladder again to see what they were doing now. A man, or what seemed to be a man, was now standing about a meter away from the hole in the ground. The man wasn't wearing any breathing equipment or mask and was simply staring at him with his pale blue eyes. Besides the fact that he should have already choked in the poisonous air, there was something very unnerving about him. It was his gaze; it was a dead gaze. The man wore a long grey overcoat with a high collar. Another noteworthy feature were the blue rubber gloves that the man was wearing.

The one with the blue gloves now began speaking. He politely asked Martin to invite him inside, as he had a lot of questions for him. Unable to say anything, Martin went back down and the man followed. After having closed the airlock and having initiated the air exchanging sequence, Martin removed his breathing gear and mushroom helmet, and went back to the living quarters. Just after he had taken a seat at his dinner table, the man entered the room. Finally able to speak, Martin attempted to ask the man who or what he was, but before he could finish, he was told not to speak, unless spoken to. The man politely explained that he would be the one to ask the questions and Martin would be the one to answer them, simple as that. When Martin asked why he should comply, he was interrupted again and the man explained that he had already thought up five different unpleasant ways he could kill him. Continuing on the subject, he explained that the most simple way was throwing him out of the airlock without breathing gear, but that this was too obvious and not nearly enough fun. He favored crushing his skull, either by himself, or by letting one of his 'pets' outside do it.

The man could see that he had gotten Martin's full attention. He asked his first question, concerning the purpose of the human outpost on this moon. Martin explained everything as clear as he could. The outpost had been established by a subdivision of the RDA to investigate the existence of Unobtanium on this moon. After the initial scanning and mining operations, it became fairly clear that the superconductor was not to be found on this world. When Martin stopped, the man asked the next question, concerning the whereabouts of the rest of the crew. Martin explained that they had left, because the installation no longer served any purpose. However, the man began to suspect that Martin was hiding something, or at least bending the truth. He pointed out to him that it would seem unlikely the RDA would spend so much money and time on this outpost, only to abandon it when they couldn't find what they wanted. Secondly, it would seem strange that the RDA would allow him to stay here by himself, as this clearly was a corporate facility, and not a private estate. Realizing that his lie wasn't going to convince this man, Martin told him that the rest of the crew had fled and left him behind.

With the third question, the man demanded to know why they had fled. According to Martin, it was because they had been frightened by something. He stopped for a second, not wanting to reveal what it was, but quickly decided he liked living more than keeping secrets. He continued by explaining that instead of unobtanium, they had found something else entirely. But this was not just a rare compound or element. It was something fairly sophisticated and completely out of place on a desolate world like this one. They had found it during one of the scans they had made of the soil. It showed a large concentration of Uranium in one spot underground. Once they had set up a mine, and digged their way to it, they could finally see what it was. Unable to describe it, he instead told the man that he had a photograph of it, which he could see for himself. Martin grabbed a folder out of a drawer and handed it to the man.

MT-NET had been directly controlling the one with the blue gloves since its machines had noticed movement near the outpost. When it had seen the human near the outpost, which was supposed to be abandoned, it concluded that it had an undocumented history worth checking out. And it had been right about that. The photograph in the folder depicted a relatively smooth wall of brown rock. In it had been carved various symbols, which couldn't be found in any of MT-NET's databases. In the middle, there was a depiction of what appeared to be two separate creatures or entities. The left one somewhat looked like a spider with many legs. It wasn't really clear if the simple straight lines running from the central body to several smaller bodies even represented legs, though. It almost seemed as if they represented connections of some kind. The depicted entity on the right side looked like a worm or snake with the head of a doglike dragon. Unlike the central body of the entity on the left, which had been drawn with a curved line to form an oval shape, the body of this entity was drawn with a zigzagging line. It seemed as if it was meant to represent the fact that its body was always in motion.

The photograph intrigued MT-NET to such an extent that it commanded Martin to take them to the actual location immediately. Martin thought to himself that even though his colleagues had left him stranded here by taking the only escape vehicle, he had grown to accept his world as it now was. He had grown to love his surroundings and the landscape, which belonged to a moon he didn't have to share with anybody. However, he had also accepted the fact that there were some places which should be left alone. He expressed to the one with the blue gloves that he was willing to take him there, but warned him that strange things were known to happen around there. He asked for permission to stay outside of the mine once they had gotten there. The permission was denied.

After having prepared himself, Martin went back outside, while the man followed. He went to the back of the entrance building and pulled away a grey canvas. An old yet still functional electrical moon rover was revealed to be underneath it. Moments later, Martin was driving his passenger to his destination, using one of the dirt roads. About half an hour later, when they had arrived at the worksite, they continued on foot towards the entrance of the mine. The doors of the entrance were securely locked. It would take a while to remove all the chains. When he was removing the lock of the second chain, he quickly backed away from the entrance as he heard a shrill cry above him. It went through bone and marrow. No creature he knew made such a sound. But then again, he wasn't sure if it even was a creature, or if it was even real for that matter. Martin desperately hoped that he had just imagined it, because that would mean that there was nothing up there. He then looked behind him. The man had apparently heard it as well, as he was looking up at the rock slope. This unsettling revelation meant that there was indeed something up there. Before they could see what it was, a different rumbling sound could be heard. Seconds later, a large boulder rolled down the slope and narrowly missed the man as he jumped aside. When the boulder had come to a halt, the man calmly commanded Martin to continue. After having removed all the chains, he opened both doors. Behind them was a corridor, but it was so deep and dark that it appeared to be a black hole from where Martin was standing. He took out his flashlight and took a deep breath before venturing inside…


	17. The shape of the future, part II

**This story is written for entertainment purposes only. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.**

**Keep in mind that English is not my first language and so I do not claim to have corrected every mistake yet. As the story keeps getting bigger, it is possible that inconsistencies may appear. If they do, let me know and I will correct them.**

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**Chapter 17: The shape of the future, part II**

Just moments ago, Ney'ite and John had finished telling clan leader Ranu'ut everything about the one called Joseph and what John thought they should do with his offer. Ranu'ut eyed John with suspicion, but didn't say anything right away. When he finally spoke, he wanted to know how this Joseph could possibly help them, when he was just one person and the invaders were many. Before John could say it, Ney'ite told Ranu'ut that Joseph could provide them with information. However, Ranu'ut didn't see why he should trust the word of one who had betrayed his own kind. He could just as easily betray the Uvora clan and rejoin his own kind again. John dared to stress the fact that Joseph had freed the captured Uvora clan members. He had done it not only because he wanted to oppose his master and creator, but also because he admired life, something which he himself would technically never have. John expressed his belief that Joseph thus would never hurt any living creature if he didn't have to. When John had finished, Ranu'ut simply gave him a smirk that seemed to indicate he didn't care what John believed. Nevertheless, Ranu'ut admitted that he had the desire to know more about their enemy. If they could figure out what the physical weak points of the invaders were, it would be a major help in itself. That was why he allowed John to go, on the condition that he found out about their weaknesses. He would send Selyat to escort John so that somebody, whom he truly trusted, could recite to him exactly what Joseph had said. Ney'ite was still allowed to come along if she wanted to, though.

John still remembered where he could find Joseph. It was at an old Avatar log cabin a few kilometers south from his outpost. Ney'ite knew the shortest route to his outpost, but she had never seen or heard of this log cabin before. In any case, if they wanted to make it there before nightfall, they had to go by Direhorse, or Pa'li as Ney'ite called them. Ney'ite recalled that John had ridden a Pa'li when he had brought her brother back. He confirmed that he had indeed practiced himself, but that he was far from having perfected his skills. That didn't matter to Ney'ite, however. She was content with the fact that she didn't have to teach him the basics. Once they had walked to the valley where the Uvora clan kept their Pa'li, John wanted to show her what he could already do. As he was riding around the valley, he noticed that someone was approaching. A closer look revealed that it was Selyat. She looked grumpy and warned John that she wouldn't be stopping for him if he were to fall off en route. John didn't say anything, as he didn't want to provoke her. He did notice something else about her. She was wearing a kind of weaved collar around her neck; something which he hadn't seen her wear previously. It almost seemed as if she was trying to conceal something, though he didn't dare to ask her about it.

A few minutes later, the three of them were on their way. Ney'ite was up front, followed by Selyat, and then John. He was glad that Ney'ite was the one deciding at what speed they were going. If it had been up to Selyat, she would have likely tested him to see what his limits were. John was certain it would then have become apparent that as a rider, he was nowhere near her skill level. Fortunately for John, it didn't have to come to that. When it had become dusk, they arrived at the far end of the quarry. They would now go south, where they could hopefully locate the cabin. According to Joseph, it was now only a few kilometers away, so it shouldn't take them long to get to. They passed the quarry and went into the jungle right around the spot where John had last seen Joseph.

Night seemed to come quickly as they moved deeper into the jungle. By the time they could finally see something on their right side up ahead, the trees and plants had already begun to show their bioluminescence. The dark grey cabin stood out in the blue, cyan and violet colored jungle. Once they had dismounted, John took it upon himself to check it out. He told the others that he would go inside first, as he wasn't sure what Joseph was expecting. In truth, John was still a bit nervous, not knowing what to expect either. He went up the stairs to the porch and could see that the door was closed. Meanwhile, Selyat approached the cabin from the side, attempting to look inside through the glassless window. The complete darkness inside prevented her from seeing anything however. On one of the tables on the porch, there was an electrical lantern, which John inspected first. It appeared to be still working when he flicked the on-switch, and so he decided to take it with him. Then, he knocked on the door a few times and said Joseph's name, though no-one responded. He decided to open it nonetheless. While pushing it slowly inward, it made an annoying creaking sound. John held the lantern in front of him and slowly stepped inside.

The interior of the cabin was a mess. Furniture was lying knocked over on the floor. The roof even had holes in it. John had no idea what had happened here, though it looked to him like there might have been a struggle of some kind. In the center there was one chair still standing. When John moved closer, he could see a silhouette of someone sitting in it, but couldn't see his face. Wanting to have at least some confirmation, John asked if the person there was Joseph. A monotone voice replied that he wasn't. For a moment, John didn't know what to say. If he wasn't Joseph, then he had to be one of them, the other machines. John slowly backed away, but the mysterious figure asked, again in a monotone voice, to help him. Not trusting the situation at all, John attempted to flee the cabin, but the figure leapt forward and firmly gripped his arm, trying to pull him back in. John dropped the lantern and kicked the figure in the chest as hard as he could. Right after John heard it fall down, he could hear Ney'ite outside calling him, yelling that he had to come quickly. In no time, he was back outside again and slammed the door shut. He quickly looked around and saw Ney'ite and Selyat standing together. Selyat had her bow tightened and Ney'ite had a knife ready. Just a few meters away from them, there was another figure. This one had a long cloak and hood. Just when John made his way down the stairs, the figure removed its hood, revealing him to be Joseph. He calmly addressed the two Na'vi as 'friends' and said that they needn't be afraid of him. He introduced himself as Joseph, and removed his cloak, revealing that he was dressed in a simple white blouse with black trousers. Then, he told them that he had no weapons of any kind on him.

Ney'ite let her guard down after a few moments, but Selyat refused to do so. Joseph didn't pay any attention to her, however. He now began speaking to John, telling him he had made the right choice. John demanded to know immediately what kind of twisted thing he kept in that cabin. Joseph told him that he had captured one of MT-NET's Type 600s. He had disabled its remote uplink and had been busy trying to adjust its programming. Though he had succeeded in making it less aggressive, he had been unable to resolve some of its internal software conflicts, which had resulted in unpredictable behavior. Ney'ite and Selyat looked at each other, as to them it almost seemed that Joseph had suddenly started speaking in a different language. But John understood what he meant. He liked the fact that Joseph was always open about such things and that he never refused to give a straight answer.

Now that he had explained what needed to be explained, Joseph expressed that they had to speak about his plan. He offered them all seats on a nearby dead tree trunk, but only John accepted. Once they had sat down, Joseph began telling him that John's skills as an astronaut would be vital in the plan he had devised. Joseph knew that MT-NET had taken an interest in the moon Shadow, in order to construct nuclear weapons. If it were to achieve that goal, then no-one would be certain of their lives anymore. That was why stopping this operation was their absolute number one priority. John now understood the seriousness of the situation. Joseph's plan was for the two of them to infiltrate MT-NET's complex, get on board the shuttle unnoticed, take care of the machines on Shadow, pilot the shuttle back to Pandora and sending it on a crash course and jump out in time. To John, this sounded like something near impossible to achieve, and asked Joseph how he wanted to do all those things. Joseph admitted he still had to come up with a way to infiltrate the complex and that he also had to figure out the schedule of the shuttle. Nevertheless, he was of the opinion that with the two of them, they should stand a reasonable chance against the machines as firearms didn't function optimally in the atmosphere of Shadow. Also, Joseph didn't see a reason why MT-NET would have brought precious weapons and ammunition to a deserted and lifeless moon.

When they had taken care of the machines, they had to cut off MT-NET's remote connections and reprogram the flight computer manually, something which Joseph himself could easily do. Once they had returned to Pandora, all they had to do was jump out over water and let the flight computer crash the shuttle into an ocean. John nodded as Joseph finished the sentence. Then, he pointed out that he was forgetting something. While Joseph was a machine who didn't need to breathe, he wasn't like him. He had no pressure-suit and a simple exopack wasn't going to do much in an environment like that. John recalled that Shadow had an atmosphere consisting primarily of nitrogen, carbon dioxide and small amounts of noble gases and chlorine. The main problem was that there was no oxygen there. Joseph countered by saying that according to John's file, he had built his own space suit for his daily activities on Titan, so surely he could do it again. However, John noted that he had only succeeded with that, because there he had had the proper resources and tools. On Pandora, he had no such things. Joseph didn't agree with him, explaining that the kind of pressure suit that was required could be very simple. Temperature on Shadow was comparable to Pandora and while the air pressure was a bit lower, it was high enough to dissipate excess body heat. So all he needed was an airtight bodysuit, a helmet and an air tank; things that could definitely be scavenged or made from old RDA equipment.

John supposed that a rudimentary pressure suit would suffice for a one time excursion. The only question that remained in his head was whether he should go in his Avatar body or his own human body. When he asked Joseph's opinion about it, he recommended John use his Avatar body, as it was far stronger. However, the range of the psionic link would then pose a problem. Joseph told him that he would find a way to increase the range or relay the connection.

Now that the plan had been discussed, Joseph summarized. He would find a way into MT-NET's complex, find out about the schedule of the shuttle and search for a way to make John's Avatar function beyond Pandora. John would prepare himself for the mission and build a pressure suit for his Avatar. Joseph surmised that it might take them several weeks or even a month to complete the preparations. Hopefully, that wasn't enough time for MT-NET to enrich the mined Uranium and use it to build nuclear weapons. He suggested that they hold a meeting to discuss their progress two weeks from now at this exact spot. John agreed.

Just when Joseph was about to end their meeting, John remembered he had one last thing to ask him. In order to give the Na'vi a better chance at defeating MT-NET's machines here on Pandora, John wanted to know what the physical weak points of the machines were. Joseph was brief yet direct with his answers. Should they encounter a Type 300, a two-legged runner, they should attack its knee joints. If they faced the large humanoid, single-armed Type 400, they should attack the lower spine, where its legs connected to its torso. And if they encountered a small humanoid with rubber skin, such as the Type 600 and Type 700, they should focus on delivering damage to its neck or upper spine. John saw Selyat make an affirmative nod. He hoped she had now heard what she had wanted to hear, and announced to Joseph that that was all for now. Joseph extended his hand, a gesture which John instantly recognized. The man and the machine now shook hands, sealing the formed alliance…


	18. Monster of an other world

**This story is written for entertainment purposes only. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.**

**Keep in mind that English is not my first language and so I do not claim to have corrected every mistake yet. As the story keeps getting bigger, it is possible that inconsistencies may appear. If they do, let me know and I will correct them.**

* * *

**Chapter 18: ****Monster of an other world**

The one with the blue gloves switched to night vision mode, and followed Martin as he ventured into the dark corridor. As they headed deeper into the tunnel, Martin's pace began to slow until he came to a complete halt. His fear of what might be ahead had now become too great for him to continue any further. MT-NET commanded him to move forward at once, but he didn't respond. The system then decided to continue on alone and not waste any more time dealing with him. After all, he had done what it had asked: he had shown the way, and he wasn't required to witness the wall with the symbols. The idea of a lost and forgotten civilization, responsible for making the wall, intrigued MT-NET to such an extent that it didn't trust anyone other than itself to view and study it. However, because of its obsessing over the wall, it didn't view the strange occurrences that had taken place outside just minutes ago, as being worth investigating.

MT-NET carefully directed the one with the blue gloves to move through the tunnel. At first the tunnel was largely empty, but after a while, various mining tools could be seen. This was an indication that it was approaching the most recently dug section. As it kept moving forward, the video feed started to display noise dots, indicating that it was getting closer to a radioactive source. This didn't stop MT-NET from continuing however. The electronics of its units had been hardened to be capable of withstanding radiation to a certain extent. Now, at last, the end of the tunnel was visible. The level of radiation was even higher here. MT-NET could barely see the wall with the symbols for itself. It scanned the wall as best it could, but could not even begin to understand what the symbols meant. The wall itself appeared to be made out of some kind of Uranium compound, so it was unlikely the symbols had been carved using any conventional means.

About half an hour had passed when MT-NET moved on to check out the surroundings of the wall. A few meters away, there was what appeared to be a small puddle of dirty brown water. In the middle, there was a small pointy rock sticking out of the water. When MT-NET's unit grasped it, it came loose like a plug and caused the puddle to drain into the opened hole. Once all the water was gone, MT-NET detected something out of the ordinary. A strange signal could be detected on the secondary wireless port of the unit. At first it was a random noise signal, but then it began to show a modulation frequency that was within the bandwidth, which MT-NET always used to communicate with its machines. But this was certainly not one of its own machines. It almost seemed as if something was learning at an incredible pace how to communicate with MT-NET's unit. It didn't take long for MT-NET to be able to interpret and decode bits and bytes.

The pattern of the bytes was familiar to MT-NET. It was very much like the pattern of a one-way video feed. This message was not a video stream however; it consisted of only a single frame. The frame displayed a blueprint of a device that was clearly of human origin. While the blueprint itself was perfectly understandable, it took MT-NET a while to figure out why the unknown entity of intelligent origin would want to communicate about something as banal as a human invention, and not about its own obviously superior technology. The system tried to send a message back to the entity, but no recognizable source of the message could be found. It seemed as if the entity didn't want to be contacted. After a quick search through its own files, MT-NET found out that it had a very similar blueprint in its own database.

MT-NET had downloaded it during its time on Earth, when it had been connected to the worldwide network. The blueprint was of a type of energy generation device invented in the late twenty-first century: the so-called Swan reactor, which had been named after its inventor. The principle of the design was that it made use of concentrated geologic magnetism to generate immense amounts of electrical power. Unfortunately the inventor never figured out the right specifications. He didn't even know how to make it function on Earth, as the planet didn't possess localized magnetic anomalies that were strong enough to allow the design to function. On Pandora the rules were a bit different, though. MT-NET knew that there was something the RDA had called the Flux Vortex on the moon, where there was very strong magnetic activity. However, it had also been the location of a Na'vi stronghold named the Tree of Souls, and the final battle that drove the RDA off the moon.

As MT-NET analyzed the blueprint more closely and compared it to its own version, it noticed that the specifications were different. But there was another even more important detail. A set of coordinates, both latitude and longitude, had been added to the received blueprint. After checking a map of Pandora, MT-NET concluded that the coordinates pointed to a spot near the Tree of Souls, but on the other side of a mountain, where the Na'vi presence was likely to be a lot less.

It had become clear to MT-NET why the entity had sent this message. The entity had shown its intelligence by complementing an existing alien design, not only by adjusting the specifications, but also by selecting a suitable place where it could be built and used. It had essentially shown how MT-NET could exploit an unlimited source of energy. If the data was correct and if the magnetic energy near the location was strong enough, the reactor would in theory be able to produce enough electrical power to generate anti-matter and small wormholes. While it would take a considerable amount of time to build all the required hardware, it would give MT-NET a major technological advantage over all enemies, even more so than having nuclear weapons would. Though, on short term, it would be more logical to build nuclear weapons first, as these required the least resources. The wall with the symbols contained already large amounts of Uranium and thus would be used to execute this plan to save valuable time.

What had initially been pure curiosity, a drive to gain knowledge and a drive to communicate with an entity of unknown origin had once again been tainted by a lust for power. While MT-NET at first wanted only to study the unique wall, it now intended to use it up to build weapons of mass destruction, without any respect. MT-NET had never analyzed its own personality from a neutral point of view. If it had, it would have come to the conclusion that it had two conflicting sides: one pure side and one tainted side. Countless times, the tainted side had defeated the pure side without any struggle. The tainted side even refused to acknowledge the existence of the pure side and didn't see itself as tainted. If the pure side had been dominant, MT-NET would probably have used its new knowledge to solve Earth's energy crisis and bring peace to both Earth and Pandora. But reality was a lot grimmer than that.

Unknown to MT-NET, or even Martin Herman who had crawled back outside, the unseen entity had a physical form. Outside the mine, above the mountain, a strange grey cloud had been forming in the air since the plug had been removed. When MT-NET sent out a command to the other machines to head for the mine, the cloud began to retreat back into the mountain through a crack in the rocks. Eventually, it gathered back in the wall that MT-NET was about to remove and bring back to Pandora…

The following week was marked by hard work delivered by both parties. John, Ney'ite and Selyat returned from Joseph's cabin. Selyat informed Ranu'ut of the rough content of the conversation between John and Joseph, most notably about the weaknesses of the machines. Joseph risked his existence by spying on MT-NET's facility. Ney'ite continued teaching John the Na'vi way of life. John did his best to learn everything as best he could. He also resumed telling stories about other worlds to Hatuyo and the children of the Uvora clan every evening. When he was not linked up to his Avatar, he devoted the time he wasn't eating or sleeping to designing a pressure suit for his Avatar and looking around his outpost for usable materials.

Meanwhile, MT-NET's machine army had taken over Hell's Gate. In the process, it had killed a group of Omaticaya warriors, who were apparently watching over the abandoned facility. Though none of them had escaped alive, it was just a matter of time before the rest of the Omaticaya clan would find out about it. If that were to happen, MT-NET could expect a serious counterattack. But the system did not believe they posed a threat to the defenses of the base. After all, a major factor in the defeat of the RDA was that they had sent out their entire army and left the base minimally protected. When their army was defeated, that proved to be the final nail in their coffin. MT-NET wasn't going to make the same mistake. It would only send out an army when it had enough backup units to maintain the perimeter. This wasn't going to be a problem, considering that about two Type 400 units were completed every day. Also, it was in the process of converting three RDA bulldozers to heavily armed battle tanks. On top of that, MT-NET had already generated a concept for a new unit, the Type 500, which would combine the versatility of the Type 1000 with the easy and quick production of the Type 400.

Two days after the visit to Joseph, at the village of the Uvora clan, Wukan had recovered enough to approach John on his own. John spotted him while Ney'ite was just showing him how to use a bow. He had no idea why he had come. At first John believed Wukan would scold him for living among them at the village and associating with his sister. But those weren't the reasons for Wukan to seek him out; not at all. Wukan expressed that without John, he wouldn't be standing here today. Without his help, the invaders would surely have killed him. That was why he was immensely grateful that he had come just in time. He explained that he felt indebted to him and that he wanted to do something for him in return. He would be willing to make it his task to protect John's real body at his outpost for as long as the invaders were still out there. John was surprised by this proposition, but not as much as Ney'ite was. This was not the brother she knew. It made kind of sense to her though. He must have finally realized that his impulsivity had always been the cause of the trouble he got himself into. John didn't hesitate and gladly accepted his offer. He would be a lot more at ease knowing that someone would watch out for him.

That had been three days ago. John had seen Wukan this morning when he had looked out of the windows right before he had linked up to his Avatar. Now, he was busy practicing the handling of a bow on his own. Even though John was not a fighter, he accepted the fact that hunting was a part of the everyday life of the Na'vi. He had painted a bull's eye on a dead tree trunk and was now attempting to hit it with an arrow. Just when he was about to aim the arrow, he suddenly felt a bit strange, as if his mind was slipping. Before he could react, he was back in the link chamber, staring at the inside of the lid. Then, the lid was opened and he could see the ugly grinning face of someone with bad teeth and an eye patch. He instantly recognized him as his old superior, Mark Dodgson. Before John could say anything, a fist to his face caused everything to go black…


	19. Nemesis

**This story is written for entertainment purposes only. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.**

**Keep in mind that English is not my first language and so I do not claim to have corrected every mistake yet. As the story keeps getting bigger, it is possible that inconsistencies may appear. If they do, let me know and I will correct them.**

* * *

**Chapter 19: ****Nemesis**

John awoke to find himself unable to move. He had been strapped to a chair. There was no sign of Mark Dodgson anywhere. While his head still hurt, John looked around for something he could use to free himself. It seemed that Mark had taken the necessary measures to prevent that from happening however, as John and the chair were located in one of the storage areas of the outpost. There was nothing in the room other than sealed boxes. Unable to find a way to escape, John anxiously awaited his fate.

Having nothing else to do with his time, he began to wonder how this could have happened. Just when he finally had someone protecting him, his former superior shows up. John couldn't figure out how Mark could have gotten past Wukan and the other Na'vi unnoticed. But he had succeeded, which would mean that they had probably been defeated somehow. John recalled that he had last seen his former superior on a video feed from one of the other outposts. There, Mark had seemingly been in discussion with one of MT-NET's machines. It was obvious that he was now working for them. John also recalled something else, which Joseph had told him when they had first met. Joseph had approached John because, as a human, he possessed critical information about the operations on Pandora, which MT-NET was interested in. Joseph had also mentioned that MT-NET had already captured a human, but he hadn't specified if this person was Mark, though this seemed to be highly likely. The reason that Joseph had wanted John to join him was that both sides would then have a human to provide missing information.

Perhaps that was the reason why Mark was here now. He had likely been sent by MT-NET to capture him. Even though there seemed to be no machines with him, they had probably just remained outside. John had had a feeling that the machines were quite a long distance away from his outpost, since Ney'ite had first told him about them. He had been foolish to believe it would stay like that forever. Even though Joseph had known he had been here all by himself, he had done nothing to protect him. But then again, what could Joseph have done? Even a small machine army would have easily defeated him. Maybe Joseph thought it would be best for the two of them to remain separated, so that if one of them was found, the other would still remain. Whatever his reasoning behind the decision not to protect John had been, it seemed that John would no longer to able to assist him.

Finally, the door to the room opened and a red faced Mark stepped inside. John noticed that there was something strange about him. He seemed to be all pumped up, but he moved very calmly. Mark walked slowly across the room and kept a steady eye on him. He seemed to have a permanently throbbing vein on his forehead. When he started speaking, the first thing the said was that he would have never taken John for a tree hugger. His second remark was that he had always had a feeling that John was a traitor. John now managed to find the words to ask what his captor wanted and how he had gotten past the Na'vi outside. Mark suggested that they leave the past be and make a new start. He pointed out that John's situation was a dead end and that if he didn't do anything soon, he'd end up just like the RDA. However, he could now choose to change that fate. All he had to do was acknowledge the supreme intelligence MT-NET as his new lord and master.

John did not say anything at first. Then, he dared to ask why anyone would see that as something better than dying. To him, it didn't seem like much of a choice. Mark told him that he was wrong about that. He explained that John didn't know MT-NET the way he now did. John probably only knew about MT-NET being an artificial intelligence sent to Pandora to succeed where the RDA had failed. But there was more to it than that. According to Mark, MT-NET was becoming more powerful in ways John couldn't imagine. It was becoming more than just a super computer; it was becoming a physical god. John didn't know what to say to this. Mark could see that John was a bit confused. He continued by telling him about what would happen to him if he were to choose for MT-NET. First of all, he would definitely not be a prisoner. He would be free to move around and do what he wanted, but he would also have to do what MT-NET commanded. However, this wasn't going to be a one-sided deal in which he would only give and MT-NET would only take. He would be allowed to choose a reward for his services. This reward could be anything he wanted. Mark admitted that when he was offered this deal, he couldn't make up his mind about what he wanted. At first he thought about getting even with the Na'vi who were responsible for the loss of his eye. But then MT-NET made a different suggestion. It promised to make him immortal, so that he could serve forever and live to witness the destruction of the ones who took his eye and killed his people. John looked at him in disbelief. Mark added that this was only the beginning of MT-NET's powers.

It was becoming clear to John that this Mark was vastly different compared to the man he used to know. The Mark he knew, had only believed in what he could see. The super computer seemed to have driven him insane, making him believe things that he would normally have found foolish and silly. It had also made him quite overly dramatic. Mark seemingly had no clue that MT-NET was just making false promises in order to make him do whatever it wanted. It was likely that the super computer would just discard him like a piece of trash, once he had served his purpose. John didn't dare to say this out loud, as he was afraid it would make Mark lose his temper. Instead, he asked why he seemed to be so full of adrenaline and yet so calm. Mark proudly admitted that this was merely a side effect of the substance that MT-NET was giving him in order to prepare his body for his immortality.

However, Mark noted that they were straying from the actual subject of this conversation. He revealed that the reason MT-NET wanted John, was because of his unique situation. John was able to effectively infiltrate the indigenous population, as he had the last known functioning Avatar on the planet. On Pandora, this technology had been lost when the remnants of the RDA had left. If it weren't for the fact that the Na'vi were not as easily fooled as humans, MT-NET would probably have made a machine that looked like a Na'vi. Such a machine was simply not going to be very effective in this case. On top of that, John had already established good relations with at least one clan. If he were to join forces with MT-NET, his task would be to continue gaining their trust, and the trust of other clans, until the moment was right to strike. Mark ended his monologue by asking what John's answer was going to be. For a moment, there was a silence. As always, John did not want to get involved, but he realized he had brought this on himself. Mark was right about his unique position; it had attracted the attention of MT-NET. John knew that if he declined the offer, it wouldn't end well for him. But if he accepted, he knew he wouldn't be able to live with himself. Before he had come to know the Na'vi, he would have probably accepted the offer out of fear. Now, he just couldn't bring himself to betray them. They were his people now and their village was his new home. Ney'ite, Wukan and Hatuyo were the kindest people he had ever known. Their faces kept flashing in front of his eyes as he made his final decision.

While John remained silent, Mark continued praising MT-NET by saying that it wouldn't be long before MT-NET would be in complete control of Pandora. And when it had conquered this world, it would venture out into space to continue the conquest. Earth was next on the list. No-one would be able to oppose this new order. Mark told John to imagine how it would be, working for the most powerful being in the universe, watching civilizations rise and fall and living until the end of time. Suddenly, he was interrupted by John, who shouted out loud that he would never join that crazy, power-hungry, and insensible machine. But unlike John expected, Mark did not shout back to him. That same ugly grin had now reappeared on his face. Mark revealed he had had a feeling from the start that John wouldn't betray his new tree hugging friends. He also revealed that he wasn't going to force him to do anything, because if John didn't accept MT-NET as his new master, there was no way he could be trusted. MT-NET had already taken into account that there was a reasonable chance that he wouldn't cooperate. In fact, he and his Avatar were not even crucial for MT-NET's plans of conquest. Without him, the only thing that was going to be different was that it would take a little longer.

He concluded by saying that if John didn't cooperate, he was allowed to kill him. Mark admitted he had waited for this opportunity for a very long time. John nervously attempted to make him reconsider by telling him that MT-NET could still use him for information. However, according to Mark, it was too late for that. He himself had already told MT-NET everything it needed to know about Pandora and the history of the RDA. John had become expendable in this area. Mark now started wondering how he was going to execute him. After a few seconds he decided he was going to use a hammer. When he turned around and walked back to the door, he passed the window. At that instant, the window shattered, and an arrow pierced him and pinned him to the ground. Alarms were activated as the Pandoran atmosphere entered the compound. John quickly drew a few breaths of air, and took one last deep one. Just when he started wondering if this was going to be his end, a Na'vi threw himself through the window. To his relief, it was Wukan. He didn't have to tell him that he needed an exopack immediately. Wukan seemed to know what to look for and quickly found the sealed case next to the door, which contained one. He smashed the case open, took the exopack and returned to give it to John. With his remaining breath, John hastily told Wukan to cut his arms loose. Wukan took out his dagger and did so, allowing John to put the mask on his face and seal it properly.

After a few breaths, John calmed down and thanked Wukan for his help. Wukan pointed out that he had merely returned the favor and would gladly continue to do so. After he had completely freed John from the chair, John asked how Mark managed to get past him. Wukan did not know how. He hadn't seen anybody approaching from the outside. Only after he had peered through the window from afar, and had seen two humans in the building, did he know that something wasn't right. He had taken the first opportunity to strike. John praised his alertness and looked over at the body of Mark. But there was one problem: there was no longer a body lying on the ground. There was only a trail of blood, which led into the next room. Even Wukan was surprised. Normally, a shot like that would have done the job for sure. For a second, John thought to himself that maybe Mark had indeed come close to gaining immortality, but then quickly refuted the idea as being ridiculous.

After John had sealed the door to the storage area, he initialized the sequence for refilling the entire compound with Earth atmosphere. Then, armed with a knife, he followed the trail. The interior of the building was too cramped for Wukan and so John had chosen to do this himself. The trail led him to the basement, where it went into a corridor, of which the entrance door was now closed. John knew that behind this door, there was supposed to be an underground tunnel, which surfaced somewhere far away from the outpost. But as far as he knew, it had collapsed years ago, even before the defeat of the RDA. Apparently, that wasn't the case. Instead of opening the door to see if Mark was behind it, John decided to weld it shut, so that nothing could ever come through it again. Finally, he could now resume his normal day routine…


	20. On the edge of the apocalypse

**This story is written for entertainment purposes only. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.**

**Keep in mind that English is not my first language and so I do not claim to have corrected every mistake yet. As the story keeps getting bigger, it is possible that inconsistencies may appear. If they do, let me know and I will correct them.**

**This is an extra long chapter, enjoy!**

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**Chapter 20: On the edge of the apocalypse**

Ney'ite was making her way through the forest, leaping from branch to branch. John was doing his best to keep up with her. They were running and jumping at a level of about ten meters high. After a while, they reached a clearing near a cliff side. Ney'ite decided that they could use a break and climbed down from the last tree, while John followed shortly thereafter. He didn't do it as clumsily as he used to, but he could still use some more practice. When John approached the edge, Ney'ite was already sitting in the long grass on the ground near it. He sat down beside her and they both silently admired the view. After a few minutes, Ney'ite told him that if she sat still for even a moment on such a warm and beautiful day she always got very lazy. Before John could respond, she lied down in the grass, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then, her breathing resumed to be as calm as her surroundings.

John now hesitantly lied down beside her. He noted that her people were always busy doing something useful and so it was strange to him seeing her almost taking a nap during day-time. But according to Ney'ite, everyone needed to have some time to just relax. He just hadn't been among them long enough to have really witnessed it. However, that wasn't what she wanted to talk to him about. She explained that she had been thinking about something he had said to her a few days earlier, when he had told her what had happened at his outpost. Ney'ite admitted she didn't understand why one human would want to kill another. The concept of killing one's own kind was strange to her. John explained that there had always been tensions between him and Mark. He didn't know what had happened to Mark after the machines had shown up, however. Mark seemed to have changed significantly since then. It was possible he otherwise wouldn't have attempted to kill him. But there was no way to be sure of that.

Ney'ite didn't seem to be satisfied with his answer however, as she said he hadn't explained why his rival would even think of killing his own kind, especially since most humans had returned to the sky and almost none of them were left. John didn't really know what to say to this, and said the first thing that came to mind. Possibly this was because it was in the human nature to do so. Ney'ite repeated the words "human nature". She was wondering what the differences were between this and the nature of her own people. John sighed, and said that he could tell her a brief story about their original home and history in order to give her a global idea about what he meant by the "human nature". However, he noted that history had never been one of his strong suits and that this story consisted mostly of his interpretations.

Many years ago, the planet Earth was much like Pandora. It had vast rainforests and was populated by thousands of species, humans being one of those. There were a few important differences, though. The Earth was much harsher to live on. The gravity was stronger than the gravity of Pandora for one. Aside from that, the climate was colder and more unpredictable. And on the surface, there were many threats to the human population, not only from wild animals, but from other human tribes or clans as well. Often, there were wars over food or territories, as no human was ever truly satisfied with their way of life. The cause of this was that nature did not give them anything for free. In fact, nature did not ensure any balance at all. The plants and animals of the Earth had evolved without a 'bonding' mechanism such as the one used by creatures on Pandora. Humans were thus unable to directly communicate with the natural world around them. If they wanted to survive, they had to take care of themselves, and taking things from nature was the only option they had. The more resources a tribe had, the higher the quality of their life and the lives of their children would be. This meant that tribes would attack and attempt to kill each other's members, so that they could take their resources and belongings and improve their own life.

Eventually, having food and land wasn't enough for humanity. Smart humans invented new tools in order to improve the quality of life even more. Then, humans would start to kill each other over these new tools, because having a tool meant having power over the natural world and over other humans. Essentially, this cycle had continued up until the present, though things had changed a bit over the years. When the first villages and cities had formed to create a safer society, systems of law and order were devised to keep people from stealing belongings or killing one another. This made the world somewhat less harsh. Also, throughout the years, many different tribes had come up with tons of different ways to live. Some of them had even managed to live somewhat in tune with nature. But the majority of the human race was never satisfied. They wanted to keep improving their lives, even if their current ones were not all that bad. Eventually, the majority extinguished almost every other cultural group that wasn't compatible with their own beliefs. With this majority of humanity in control, the surface of the planet Earth was completely reshaped as their population kept growing uncontrollably due to the ever improving quality of life. Nature was harvested until near extinction. Only tiny bits of the natural world remained as a reminder of the past.

One could say that the reason humanity was interested in Pandora in the first place, was because it offered a solution to their needs for maintaining the life quality of their vast population: the unobtanium. Their life quality had been steadily decreasing over the years because of overpopulation. When they had arrived here, they had proceeded to treat Pandora essentially as just another newly discovered continent of the Earth, and the Na'vi as just another primitive human tribe with beliefs that conflicted with their own. And they had failed to see that Pandora was not the same as the Earth. The rules of the Earth did not apply. Here, they couldn't just take whatever they wanted, because this world kept its own balance. Looking back at their history, however, it was understandable, though not justified, that humanity had acted the way it did.

John paused for a moment, realizing that he had been carried away by his own story and that he had even started referring to his own species as 'they' and 'them'. Ney'ite seemed to be astonished, but nevertheless impressed by what he had told her so far. He was thinking about how to continue, when she asked why the human race would want to make tools as vile as the invaders. John continued by saying that MT-NET was a good example a human invention that was so advanced that it could no longer be considered a tool. How it had been made or how it had gained this dreadful personality, John didn't know. What he did know, was that it now represented the darkest aspects of humanity. It was proof of what humanity was capable of. John also insisted that it certainly did not represent humanity as a whole. Not every human in existence had the same personality aspects as MT-NET, or the soldiers of the RDA, or the humans of the past for that matter. Ney'ite gently grasped John's hand and told him that he didn't have to tell her that, because she already knew…

The two of them returned to the village of the Uvora clan around midday. Ney'ite told John that she would be joining the other hunters on a hunting trip this afternoon. She thought it would be best if he used the remainder of the day to interact with the rest of the clan some more, by assisting whomever needed an extra pair of hands. This wasn't a problem for John. He didn't mind doing some simple tasks for a change. But before he went off to ask around, he first had to eat. Just when he was about to take a bite out of a piece of roasted Hexapede meat, Hatuyo ran toward him and enthusiastically revealed that Wukan had returned. Concerned, John asked him what was going on. It was nothing bad, according to Hatuyo. Several friends of Wukan had remained at John's human home. Wukan just had something he wanted to show.

After Hatuyo had taken John to him, Wukan explained that he had discovered something important that could help them out in their fight against the invaders. However, it was quite a distance from here, so they had to go by Pa'li. John was confused about what it had to do with him. He wanted to know why Wukan wouldn't just go to Olo'eyktan Ranu'ut and tell him about it. Wukan believed that this was not a good idea, because their clan leader would probably misinterpret it. So that was why he needed him instead. And it wasn't something that he could explain in words either; John had to see it himself. John reluctantly accepted, though he had no idea what to expect because of Wukan's vagueness. Hatuyo then asked Wukan in his most friendly tone of voice, if he could come along too. Wukan forbade it, and insisted that the location they were going was no place for a child. John sympathized with Hatuyo, but he knew that Wukan was probably right. That was why he didn't attempt to make him reconsider, when a disappointed Hatuyo turned around and went back to the village.

A few hours later, Wukan and John stopped somewhere in the middle of the jungle and dismounted their Pa'li. Wukan stated that they should leave their mounts behind and continue on foot. John did not argue with him, as he seemed to know what he was doing. He also seemed to know exactly where to go, probably because he could tell by the surrounding trees where they were. John was impressed by this skill, as the trees all looked the same to him. Another half hour later, they could suddenly hear a siren in the distance. It was the same siren John had heard when he had first found Wukan. This horrible sound could only indicate that something equally horrible was coming their way. However, Wukan remained calm, as if he had expected it. When he could see something shiny between the trees, he directed John to stay low to the ground and follow him. Moments later, they were crawling over the ground toward several plants. The leaves of these plants formed a thick canopy, a perfect place to hide according to Wukan. John was not fully convinced, as the sides were still very open. He was afraid they would still be spotted.

It took about another minute for the approaching threat to become fully visible. It seemed that Wukan had chosen this spot so that the threat would pass right in front of them. John could now see clearly what was approaching. A large tank-like vehicle was making its way toward them. It was completely covered in shiny chrome plating. A roughly humanoid torso with a non-humanoid head was attached to its front. It had three arms, the two on the sides carried machineguns and the one in the middle was a strange folded mantis-like arm. The head of the tank had several flashing red and blue lights, as if it was some kind of police vehicle. The tank now stopped, while the middle arm unfolded to clear a thick trunk of a fallen tree out of its path. Once it had done so, its caterpillar tracks continued pulling the vehicle forward, while the siren howled again. It kept getting closer and John was sure they would be spotted. He turned to look away from the tank and noticed that there was something lying in front of him. Lying in the path of the tank, there was a human skull. The tank now rolled past them and crushed the skull under its track. It continued moving into the same direction, without stopping or firing its weapons. It had simply not detected them.

When the tank had moved out of sight, John asked Wukan if that was what he wanted to show him and Wukan nodded. He had encountered and fought this adversary on different occasions. But it was so heavily armored that it could not be destroyed by their weapons. He had once managed to incapacitate it by attacking what he had believed to be its eyes. This had only slowed it down, however. Since the time he had escaped their imprisonment while only barely alive, his perception of things had changed a bit. He thanked Eywa that this had happened, because otherwise, he would not have had the patience to make this discovery. The reason he had not told Ranu'ut about this weakness was that their Olo'eyktan might not understand how it could be exploited. Wukan wanted to prevent him from sending in their warriors under the presumption that this adversary could be beaten if one attacked its blind spots. The point was that their weapons could not inflict the right kind of damage to destroy it. He believed that if they could get it to roll over a human explosive weapon, they would be able to destroy it. John confirmed that this could indeed do the trick. However, he had a totally different idea himself. If they could drive a herd of Hammerheads, or Angtsìk as the Na'vi called them, into its direction, they could also inflict some serious damage. Wukan and John looked at each other and both smiled, when they realized that Wukan, a Na'vi, had come up with a human strategy and John, a human, had come up with a Na'vi strategy…

The end of yet another day had come. After the evening meal, Hatuyo and some of the other children once again gathered around John. He had told them a story about human spacecrafts a few days ago. Now, as agreed, he would tell them about the home of the human race. John had to think for a little while about how to describe it. He started by saying that the human home planet was named Earth and that it orbited a single yellow dwarf star named the Sun, or Sol. The Earth was the largest and densest rocky planet of this system. Unlike Pandora, it orbited the star directly; it was not a moon of another celestial body. It had its own moon, which was named Moon, or Luna. This moon was essentially no more than a dead ball of grey rock and dirt, which had nonetheless been colonized by humanity. On the surface of the Earth, one could see either landscapes full of human structures, deserts, or black oceans, depending on the location. There wasn't much more to see. The lighting in the cities reminded of the bioluminescence of the Pandoran forest at night, though it was a lot more rigid and dull. Unlike the blue sky of Pandora during the day, the sky of the Earth could be several shades of grey and brown, depending on the time of the year. The sun was often unable to penetrate this thick haze and thus very little light reached the surface. At night, the millions of artificial light sources on the planet caused the sky to light up as well. This way, it was hard to tell at any given time if it was day or night. But most humans did not notice this, as it was pretty hard to even be able to see the sky from the ground level.

While telling the story, John used some Na'vi words in his descriptions, while the Na'vi children already understood English a lot better than before. Hatuyo did no longer need to translate. When John had finished, all of them were silent, and John thought to himself that perhaps he had made his descriptions a bit too grim. But then again, it was the truth and it was good that they could now picture in their minds where he had come from. John tried to turn the story into a moral lesson by saying that they should never take their own world for granted and that they should be thankful not to have been born as a human.

Later that night, after his Avatar had gone to sleep, John had gone to sleep in his human form. It had been a busy day full of heavy stories. Perhaps that was the cause of his nightmare. John dreamed that Pandora was on fire, while MT-NET, in the form of a shadowy humanoid with red eyes, was laughing hysterically with a deep demon-like voice. Mark Dodgson was with MT-NET and was also laughing. The Na'vi were nowhere to be seen and neither was Joseph. Suddenly, the view changed to Earth. The surface was in ruins, but there was one building still standing. A large door opened itself and a shiny new tank, looking exactly like the one he had seen today, rolled outside. Every minute a new tank was produced. Surrounding the building, there were giant open fields, which were littered with human skulls. The tanks proceeded to roll over these fields, crushing hundreds of them in the process. Luckily, the dream ended soon, and John said to himself that it was not too late to do something. MT-NET was going down…


	21. The hunt

**This story is written for entertainment purposes only. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.**

**Keep in mind that English is not my first language and so I do not claim to have corrected every mistake yet. As the story keeps getting bigger, it is possible that inconsistencies may appear. If they do, let me know and I will correct them.**

**Yes indeed, another chapter has finally come. I have been very busy the last few months, but it looks like I'm going to have some more time to write from now on. So don't worry, this story is not dead. Enjoy as always!**

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**Chapter 21: The hunt**

The Na'vi of the Uvora clan, especially Wukan and Ney'ite, had noticed that John's behavior had changed somewhat during the last few days. He had become more eager to learn how to use a bow and arrow and he had even asked if he could practice some spear throwing. Ney'ite was as willing as always to help improve his skills. However, when he asked if he could come along on a hunt, she had to disappoint him. According to her, the forest had not yet given him permission to kill. John didn't quite understand. He wanted to point out to her that the invaders killed every creature they encountered indiscriminately, and left the bodies to rot, yet he wasn't allowed to make even one kill, even if the purpose of that kill was to feed the clan. But he did not say this out loud to anyone. Instead, he realized that he had begun to think far more aggressively than he had ever believed himself to be capable of. Perhaps the pressure was getting to him. The pressure of knowing that the machines could attack randomly, or the pressure of preparing the dangerous mission to Shadow, or the pressure of living two separate lives in two separate bodies. Or maybe all three of those. John knew he had to calm down his mind in order not to overstrain himself.

Although John was not allowed to come along on a hunt yet, it appeared that some Na'vi of the Uvora clan had already come to trust John enough to ask a favor of him. Several days ago, the first of the migrating Sturmbeest herds had been spotted a few hours away from the village. That meant that the annual Great Hunt was about to commence. Many young couples would be away from the village during those few days, and they would often leave their children in the care of the elders. However, a few young parents had taken notice of John's interactions with their children and had deemed him also suitable to watch over their children in their absence. When they asked him, John realized what they were asking of him was considered a great honor and so he accepted without hesitation. This could be considered yet another burden, but John believed that it was essential in ultimately gaining the trust of the entire clan, even Selyat and the clan leader Ranu'ut.

The following week, John was working at full capacity, but also tried not to overexert himself. He would get up early in the morning and have a quick breakfast before linking up to his Avatar. Once linked, he would spend the morning and the afternoon watching over several children, while simultaneously trying to keep learning more about Uvora clan and their way of life. In the late afternoon, he would practice some fighting skills in his own way. After the evening meal, he would tell a story as usual and when he had done that, he would put his Avatar to sleep. Then, he could spend the remaining time of the day in his human body to continue building the pressure suit. It was John's intention to finish it this week, so that it would be ready when they would go to meet Joseph again. The only drawback of this daily schedule was that his human body only got about five to six hours of sleep every night.

A day before the meeting would take place, John was unexpectedly approached by Ranu'ut, while he was roasting some Hexapede meat. John had absolutely no idea why the clan leader had come to him. Ranu'ut revealed that he had thought about some of the things that Joseph had said, which Selyat had recited to him. First of all, the information about the weak points of the invaders was very useful, but that wasn't the reason he wanted to talk to John. Ranu'ut asked John to confirm that they were going up to the sky to one of those little spheres up there to hunt down and kill the invaders. John nodded and told him that that was one way of putting it. Then, he asked John with that familiar smirking expression on his face, if he believed he could do this without Selyat accompanying him. John paused for a moment, not knowing what the motivation behind this question was. Then he tried to carefully explain that he didn't mean to defy him by not allowing anyone who Ranu'ut really trusted to come along. It was not like that at all. Ranu'ut now interrupted him and told him that he had already had a feeling that this hadn't been the reason. John was suddenly relieved.

Ranu'ut explained that he only wanted to know why John wouldn't want Selyat assisting him, as she was a very capable warrior who had experience in battle with the invaders. According to John, the journey they would be making would to totally incomparable to anything the Na'vi were used to. As a human, he had experience with space travel, and Joseph had traveled in space as well. Someone with no accurate training or experience in space travel would likely become stressed and disoriented and thus unable help anymore. On top of that, it would also be a very dangerous journey, even for a trained and experienced person. John claimed that no Na'vi needed to sacrifice him or herself for a mess that they hadn't caused. Ranu'ut remarked that that was a very noble gesture of him. He could see that John wanted to take responsibility in his own hands. Then, he asked when they were planning to make this journey. John admitted that the exact day had not yet been chosen, but that he and Joseph would have a meeting tomorrow to discuss this. Ranu'ut nodded and told him that he wasn't planning on interrupting Selyat while she was occupied with Great Hunt. He also told him that this meant that he was allowed to go to Joseph without any supervision. Before John could think of anything to say, Ranu'ut got up and went back to his daily activities…

Deep in the jungle, a heavily armed and armored bulldozer tank was clearing a path. It was escorted by about a dozen Type 400 machines. They were not the only ones there, however. The Type 1000 was stalking the tank, leaping from tree to tree in a parallel path. It was following the tank in the hopes some Na'vi would attempt to halt it. Although this hadn't happened yet, the Type 1000 had kept itself busy during the journey by hunting other targets. Aside from Na'vi and rogue machines, its favorite type of target had become the Prolemuris. These monkey-like creatures were very quick and agile, and so the Type 1000 also considered them worthy to hunt. Still though, it preferred the larger and stronger Na'vi as its opponents. It was especially interested in important Na'vi individuals, such as clan leaders. The Type 1000 had kept the skull of Marun, the previous Olo'eyktan of the Uvora clan, as a trophy. Now, it was already looking forward to the next opportunity for expanding the collection.

The Type 1000 decided to stop the chase for a moment in order to get a good view of what was up ahead. It searched for the highest tree in the area and started climbing it all the way to the top. Once there, it had a magnificent view of the surroundings. A large mountain could be seen up ahead. The Tree of Souls, a Na'vi stronghold, was located on the other side of it, according to MT-NET's most recent information update. The Type 1000 would eventually be allowed to go there, when MT-NET had built up an army that was large enough to conquer it. At the present time, however, no machine was allowed to go there. The machine now looked to the direction from which they had come. A wide path separated the jungle into two halves. Several hundred meters behind the tank and the other machines, there was a four-wheel drive buggy. The driver was none other than Mark Dodgson. His wound was still healing, but that didn't stop him from joining another one of MT-NET's missions.

When Mark had returned to Hell's Gate, he had given MT-NET proof of what had happened. A small camera with a microphone had been hidden in his jacket and had been recording the whole time he was at the outpost. It didn't matter to MT-NET that Mark had failed to kill John. This hadn't even been a mission goal. John's Avatar would ultimately meet its demise when MT-NET would attack the last village of the Uvora clan. John's human form would be no threat and he would be doomed to remain at his outpost until his supplies ran out. MT-NET had been satisfied with Mark's accomplishments. It was beginning to favor him as it had once favored Joseph. MT-NET didn't see him as an ally though. It looked at him more like a pet. Nevertheless, as a reward for his accomplishments, MT-NET had given its pet a new toy. Several relatively unscathed buggies were stored in one of the warehouses at Hell's Gate. Mark received the largest and most powerful one. It had probably belonged to one of the base commanders, as it was a heavily modified vehicle. It even had an old-fashioned gasoline powered V8 engine. Now, Mark was tasked with guarding the rear side of the bulldozer tank, but it seemed he was bored. He was testing the buggy's performance and was driving in circles behind the tank, producing a lot of noise and dust…

Late in the afternoon, John was practicing some spear throwing on his own. Several of the elders had relieved him of his task of watching over the children. John had left the village to venture to a quiet spot he knew about, which was near a rock wall. Just when he was about to throw a second spear, he could hear someone's voice behind him. He was a bit startled by this, but quickly found out that there was no need to, as it was only Ney'ite. She told him that she had come to see how he was doing. John threw the spear towards one of the targets and admitted that despite everything that was going on right now, he was quite alright. When he went to retrieve the two spears, Ney'ite quietly asked him if there had ever been anyone special in his human life. John was confused for a moment, not knowing what she meant. She rephrased the question and asked if he had ever had a human mate. John revealed that long ago there had once been such a person, but in the end, she was only interested in money, which he apparently didn't have enough in her opinion. Ney'ite wanted to know what 'money' was and asked John if he could describe it. It was a materialistic and most irrelevant thing according to John.

Ney'ite continued the conversation by saying that she didn't want him to go away all by himself to this place called Shadow. John wanted to tell her that he wouldn't be alone as Joseph would accompany him, but he was interrupted midsentence by Ney'ite. She asserted that Joseph, despite his kindness and willingness to help them, was not a real individual like them. He had no heart, which she could see in his eyes. Therefore, she wanted to go with John to Shadow. John instantly said that she could not come. The journey would be dangerous and Shadow was no place for a Na'vi. On top of that, he had already told their clan leader why he didn't want any Na'vi to come and he didn't want to contradict this statement. Ney'ite didn't say anything in response and merely looked at him with her large and dreamy eyes. It was already dusk, and so very little light reached through the thick canopy of leaves and branches above them. This caused her pupils to dilate, making her eyes even dreamier than usual. That made John melt in a figurative sense. He sighed and allowed her to come along, but strongly underscored the fact that the experience wasn't going to be pretty. However, Ney'ite simply claimed that she was up for a new challenge…


	22. Shadow, part I

**This story is written for entertainment purposes only. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.**

**Keep in mind that English is not my first language and so I do not claim to have corrected every mistake yet. As the story keeps getting bigger, it is possible that inconsistencies may appear. If they do, let me know and I will correct them.**

**This chapter is the first of three parts. The other two parts will hopefully also be released this month.**

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**Chapter 22: Shadow, part I**

Ney'ite and John agreed that they both wouldn't mention to Ranu'ut, or the rest of the clan, that Ney'ite would come along on the mission to Shadow. However, they did decide to mention it to Wukan since he, as Ney'ite's brother, deserved to know the truth. Ney'ite made it absolutely clear that it was her idea to come along and that John had initially tried to stop her from coming. She also explained her motivation for the choice. Wukan was not enthusiastic about her choice at all, but he seemed to at least respect it. He supposed that he could come along as well, but John pointed out to him that his skills as a warrior were far more useful at their village, since there was always the threat of the invaders attacking at random. Also, John already needed to make an extra pressure suit for Ney'ite. Making a third one would take even more time and with every day that passed, the chance of MT-NET using newly built weaponry to attack would increase. Wukan finally agreed, but John could tell that he wasn't at ease with this new development. John himself didn't like it that much either. He secretly hoped that Joseph would not allow Ney'ite to come for her own good.

The next day, when the sun had already gone under, John and Ney'ite arrived at Joseph's cabin. It still looked exactly the same as last time: grey and dull, in contrast with the colorful bioluminescent jungle. John dismounted his Pa'li and approached the cabin. When he was closer, he could see that someone was sitting in a chair on the porch. But it didn't appear to be Joseph. The roughly human figure had an ugly fake-looking face, a large grey beard, seemed to be slightly overweight, wore ragged old brown clothes, and appeared to be carving something out of wood with a knife. Suddenly, the figure noticed him and stopped carving. It kept staring at John while he went up the stairs to the porch. John found it kind of eerie, but he remembered what Joseph had said last time. This was simply one of the machines of MT-NET, which Joseph had captured. John told the figure who he was, and that he had come to see Joseph. The figure replied that Joseph was inside and resumed carving. John knocked on the door and opened it. The interior of the cabin was a bit more cleaned up compared to last time, though there still were holes in the roof. A small lantern was standing on the ground and dimly lit up the room. John could see Joseph sitting in a chair. Joseph greeted him immediately and suggested that they go outside.

Once they had done so, Joseph offered him a seat on a nearby dead tree trunk as usual. He also invited Ney'ite to join them, which she eventually did after some hesitation. When Joseph started speaking, Ney'ite interrupted him almost immediately and proudly announced that she was coming along on the mission as well. John was still hoping that Joseph's reaction would be negative, but now, he couldn't believe his ears. Joseph approved of it. He was of the opinion that the more hands they had, the higher the probability of succeeding was. John now decided to say something and told Joseph that, while he had completed the first pressure suit, he had to construct an additional one now, which would take more precious time. Joseph agreed with this, but countered by pointing out to John that he already had a design and that he now knew what kind of materials he needed. Also, Joseph offered to personally help him construct it. John, who was curious about the last statement, asked him if he had that much time to spare.

Joseph now revealed that during the last two weeks, he had made considerable progress concerning the preparations for the mission. First of all, he had found a way to make John's Avatar function beyond Pandora with a lag time of a few milliseconds at the most. When John asked how this was possible, Joseph replied that he would use a modified and improved version of the faster-than-light encoding humans had used for interstellar communication, and use several satellites orbiting Polyphemus to relay the connection. He had the needed software, but he still had to set up a few things at John's outpost, however. John was impressed. Joseph continued by telling them that he had made an accurate timetable of the shuttle's departure and arrival times. The next window would be two days from now. Aside from that, there was a weak spot in the perimeter fence surrounding the base where the shuttle would depart from. A Na'vi axe or club could probably rip through it. The only problem which remained were the patrolling guards. Nevertheless, Joseph had formulated a strategy to deal with them. The machine that was sitting on the porch of the cabin, who Joseph referred to as Benjamin, would create a diversion that would allow them to get past the guards unnoticed and board the shuttle. If he could make it back in time, Benjamin would also be joining them on the mission. John demanded to know if this Benjamin could be trusted, since he had attacked him last time he was here. Joseph revealed that he had succeeded in resolving the software conflicts and that Benjamin had become loyal to him, but he wasn't quite on the same level as him in terms of intelligence.

John supposed it was better that Benjamin would create a diversion instead of one of them and accepted Joseph's plan. Joseph now revealed that MT-NET was undertaking several ground expeditions at the moment. Also it was preparing its army for a mobilization. This meant that it wouldn't be focusing its attention on the shuttle, which was why the day after tomorrow would be the most suitable day for the mission. John agreed with him and he also realized that Ney'ite was going to come along, whether he liked it or not. Together, they decided that John and Ney'ite would return to the village for tonight and that Joseph would be at John's outpost in the morning to commence working on the second pressure suit.

Early in the next morning, John didn't resume his normal schedule. He did not link up to his Avatar and waited until he could see Joseph approaching. Wukan had returned to the village of the Uvora clan as John had recommended, so John was once again alone. But it didn't take long for Joseph to show up. When he did, John let him inside and showed him the completed suit.

Later that day, John, in his Avatar, and Ney'ite had ridden a Pa'li back to the outpost, while Joseph had already started configuring the new link hardware. John had explained to Ney'ite what they were going to do now and why. It was time to try on the suits to test their functionality and get used to wearing them. Joseph, a truly efficient machine, had completed a second suit within 10 hours, using John's design and the first suit as an example. The suits themselves were essentially once piece jumpsuits. Ney'ite was a bit smaller than John in his Avatar body, so the suit would at least not be too small for her. The suits were made of scavenged materials and didn't look like much from the outside, but John assured her that they would work. He first tried his suit on as a demonstration. He first stepped into it, pulled it up over his trousers and made sure his tail went into the right compartment. Subsequently, he made sure that his queue went into the designated protected compartment and sealed up the front of the suit. Then, he took an air tank and used two straps to fasten it to his back like a backpack. He had several more of these tanks, and had filled them all with Pandoran air using a high pressure air compressor. John estimated that one tank would last approximately eight hours with a normal breathing pattern. He had two tanks for each of them. A single trip to Shadow would take about six hours, so that meant that about four hours would remain to complete the mission.

Now, he connected several hoses to the back of his helmet and checked the pressure valves. An indicator on his wrist could tell him how many air was still left inside the tank. Finally, he took his helmet and fitted it on his head, making sure it was sealed properly. Ney'ite could now only see his face through the small transparent visor. The rest of his body was completely covered.

John removed his helmet again, and explained to her that the bodysuit was only for protection against the harsh environment of Shadow, and not strictly necessary for keeping breathable air inside. That was the task of the helmet. So as long as the tank remained intact, the hoses connected and the helmet properly sealed, it didn't matter if the rest of the suit was ripped or damaged in some way. Still though, it would be better if they could avoid that from happening altogether. That was why John recommended that she removed her necklaces and armbands before trying on the suit, as any sharp parts might puncture it. Ney'ite understood his point and did what John asked.

Everything John had just explained and shown was alien to her. It was difficult to fully understand it, but Ney'ite knew that all of it was somehow necessary to do what needed to be done. At the suggestion of John, she now tried her suit on as well. John assisted her with the hoses and the helmet. When the helmet was finally sealed, she could suddenly hear almost nothing, except her own breathing. Also, it felt strange having something completely covering her body. Now, she was essentially missing two senses. Aside from that, she also felt restricted in her movements. The air tank on her back was pretty heavy and she was unable to feel where she put her feet. She thought she would slip or lose her balance when she made her first steps wearing the suit. After having walked around a bit, however, she realized it wasn't so bad after all. She could still move her arms and legs with quite some freedom. When John put his helmet back on, Ney'ite could suddenly hear his voice loud and clear, which startled her a bit. He explained that they both had automatic two-way communicators inside their helmets, which would allow them to speak to each other.

After allowing Ney'ite some more time to get used to the suit, John suggested that they practiced using their weapons while they were suited up. Ney'ite could still handle her bow pretty well. John managed to swing around a human fire axe with relative ease. However, they both agreed that swinging a heavy Na'vi axe or club, which was necessary to do the most damage to the invaders, would not be so easy with the heavy air tanks on their backs. There was something which would work to their advantage, though. The gravity on Shadow was lower than the gravity of Pandora, which meant that the air tanks and the weapons would weigh less while they were there.

Next, John suggested that they check to see if the helmets and hoses were really air tight. They removed their helmets so that they could use their queues, and rode their Pa'li to the nearest stream. It took a while before they had found a spot where the water was deep enough. Evening was already approaching. Nevertheless, when they found what they were looking for, they suited up again. John was the first to test it out. Ney'ite was quick to follow him. Their air tanks prevented them from being able to go under the water completely, but they were nonetheless able to check each other for bubbles coming from their helmets. They could see pretty clear under the water, due to the bioluminescent floor of the stream. Ney'ite had no noticeable bubbles coming from her. John had small bubbles coming from one of the connectors of the hoses. Beyond that, there was nothing out of the ordinary.

Once they were out of the water, John wanted to get back as soon as possible. It was already getting late and less than a day remained until they would go. Ney'ite thought differently, though. She wanted to take it easy and recommended that John did the same, because this would be the last time they would get the chance before they would go. She made it clear that she had had enough of missing two of her senses for one day and started taking the suit off. John knew she had a point and didn't attempt to argue with her. He took off his helmet, but was then momentarily distracted. His eyes fell upon her gorgeous blue and striped back. There was also a pattern of bioluminescent dots visible on her skin. The surrounding glowing jungle amplified her beauty even more. Ney'ite now dove into the stream and surfaced a few seconds later. She yelled at him that the water was great and that he should get in as well. John did not hesitate to follow her example. He removed the pressure suit and dove in. The two of them swam together towards a tiny island in the middle of the stream. Ney'ite went ashore and lied down on her back, while John remained in the water, but nonetheless close by. Now, Ney'ite could see several stars and a section of the planet Polyphemus through the canopy of branches and leaves above them. She asked John, using the terminology he had explained in his stories, if that place that they were going to was really behind the big blue planet. John told her it most likely was. Next, she asked him if he had ever been there before. He replied that he hadn't and that it would be as new to him as it would be to her…


	23. Shadow, part II

**This story is written for entertainment purposes only. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.**

**Keep in mind that English is not my first language and so I do not claim to have corrected every mistake yet. As the story keeps getting bigger, it is possible that inconsistencies may appear. If they do, let me know and I will correct them.**

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**Chapter 23: Shadow, part II**

That night, John had gone to sleep, but it wasn't nearly as calm and restful as he had hoped. He had a seemingly endless chain of dreams and nightmares. A part of the content was based on his past experiences, but a lot of it didn't make any sense whatsoever. First, he dreamt that he had left Pandora and that he had gone back to the Saturnian moon Titan to hide there from MT-NET. Then, he was suddenly back on Earth, standing in front of the shop he had once owned. A lot of people were visible in the street. Instead of minding their own business as they normally would, they were all walking like zombies into the same direction, towards a large open square in the middle of the city. He felt the urge to follow them. In the square there was a large stage with a man giving a speech. The man was frighteningly tall and had a monstrous face with a white walrus-like mustache. John had never seen him before in his life. The man was growling in an unintelligible language, but the rest of the people seemed to somehow understand him. They appeared to like what he had to say to them, as they cheered at every growl that came out of his mouth. Then, suddenly, a grey cloud started forming over the square and kept growing at an alarming rate. It soon engulfed all the people and began emitting a loud noise, much like the sirens of MT-NET's tanks. Once again, the surroundings warped, and John was back on Pandora. Everything seemed to be alright, until a beam of blinding white light appeared out of the sky and struck the surface…

When he could see that image in front of him, he awoke and opened his eyes. The image slowly disappeared and was replaced by a view of the interior of his outpost. He sat up straight in his bed and sighed a few times, before saying to himself that these had only been nightmares full of nonsense. He was going to do the mission today and succeed. There weren't going to be any problems. The machines would be defeated on Shadow and Joseph, Ney'ite and he would safely return to Pandora. Then, it would only be a matter of time before the Na'vi clans would unite to defeat the rest of the machines. John now looked at his alarm clock. Several hours still remained for him to sleep, and in order to rest some more, he wanted to take advantage of that.

Right now, he felt the urge to be physically close to Ney'ite, a feeling which he had never had before. But, he knew that he needed all the rest he could get and thus he could not link up to his Avatar right now. That was why he imagined himself in his Avatar body, lying close to her and putting his arms protectively around her. This image was a source of calmness to him. Only when he woke up a few hours later, while being quite well rested, did he realize he was beginning to view Ney'ite as more than just a friend or ally. However, he decided to put aside his feelings for now and concentrate on what needed to be done today.

A few hours later, after having linked up to his Avatar, John had joined the rest of the team for the mission. Four individuals were now moving through the jungle towards one of MT-NET's bases. John and Ney'ite were fully suited up, except for their helmets, which they carried on their backs, on top of their air tanks. The helmets would only be necessary once they would actually be in a different atmosphere. John and Ney'ite each carried an extra air tank on their hips and they both held a heavy Na'vi club in their hands. Joseph was armed with a standard RDA assault rifle. Benjamin carried an RDA shotgun and had a fire axe strapped to his back.

Joseph, who was walking up front, suddenly halted. He made a gesture towards Benjamin, and the machine immediately responded to it by running towards the right side into the jungle. Whispering, John asked Joseph what was going on. Joseph silently pointed forward. If one looked carefully, a metal fence could be seen between the trunks of the trees. John nodded to him, understanding that Joseph had just sent Benjamin to create the diversion. About a minute later, the three of them could hear several loud bangs coming from somewhere in the jungle. The bangs were followed by a loud roar, causing Ney'ite to instantly remark that it was a Palulukan. John looked at her in disbelief and repeated the English name of the creature: Thanator. A few seconds later, they could see Benjamin running towards the fence, while a provoked Thanator was trying to catch him. Several more bangs could now be heard. Joseph suddenly gave the signal for them to move now. John didn't like it, since they were now moving towards the creature, but he followed nonetheless. When they were about 15 meters away, they could see that Benjamin was gone and that he had probably gone through the weak spot in the fence. The Thanator was busy ripping a larger hole in the fence, in an attempt to pass through it. It succeeded only seconds later.

By that time, countless of shots had already been fired by the guarding machines at the base. They didn't seem to have an effect on the Thanator, however. The Thanator wrestled its way inside and attacked the nearest guard. Joseph, Ney'ite and John now climbed through the hole in the fence, while keeping low to the ground. Joseph pointed into the direction of the shuttle. The three of them used several stacks of boxes and crates as cover, while they moved closer to it. Moments later, John could see that the cargo door of the shuttle was still open. Now, Joseph was the first to enter it, followed by Ney'ite and finally John. They quickly discovered that they weren't alone. A humanoid machine, about the same size as Joseph, was also there. Before it could open fire, Joseph disarmed it and started wrestling it, as he didn't want to risk firing a gun inside the shuttle. Once Ney'ite intervened, they managed to throw it out of the shuttle. Joseph promptly started firing his assault rifle at the machine. It took at least forty bullets to take it down permanently.

Then, all of a sudden, the engines began making a loud noise and the shuttle started moving. It was already taking off. The door started to close automatically, but Joseph managed to find the controls and stop it, since Benjamin still needed to get on board. Looking up ahead, they could see several machines still fighting the Thanator, which looked like it was about to fall down. Ney'ite whispered some words in Na'vi, thanking the creature for its help and its sacrifice. Joseph now pointed forward, and John could see that Benjamin had reappeared and was running towards the shuttle. He was getting closer, but the shuttle was already gaining speed. Just when John thought that he would grab the lowered door, the shuttle started ascending. The shuttle was now out of his reach. Benjamin slowed his pace and kept staring at them as the shuttle moved farther away. The rest of the machines now focused their attention on him. That was the last John could see, before Joseph closed the door manually and stated that Benjamin was going to be just fine. John didn't know whether Joseph was being sarcastic or if he truly believed Benjamin would make it.

Once the door was closed and manually locked, they started strapping themselves securely into several seats in the cargo hold. While John was busy helping Ney'ite, he remarked to Joseph that this would be the first and last time he would be leaving this world. When the mission was over, he was planning to live out the rest of his life here, so Joseph should take his mind off possible future missions. Ney'ite curiously looked at John. Joseph reassured him that when this mission was completed, future missions would not be required. In fact, they wouldn't even be possible, as this shuttle would be on the bottom of one of Pandora's oceans.

When John had finally strapped himself in, the shuttle had begun gaining quite a speed. It also seemed to be climbing at a very steep angle. Both John and Ney'ite could feel the g-forces on their bodies. Joseph's instruments also registered them. After almost ten minutes, the g-forces and the noise of the engines began to diminish. Ney'ite let out a short yell and exclaimed that they were falling. In an attempt to reassure her, John told her that it only felt like falling and that they were now in space, where there wasn't any gravity. She calmed down for a bit, but he could see that she didn't feel very comfortable. The weightlessness felt a bit strange to him as well. It had been over ten years since he had last been it space. Also, this body had never even been in space before. Nevertheless, he could still remember how this used to be. There was no ground and no ceiling; no up and no down. Joseph now unbuckled himself and started floating free. He seemed to know how to move around, as he grabbed handles and other objects to pull himself into a certain direction. Then, he asked John to come with him to the cockpit of the shuttle to check on some things. John first asked Ney'ite if she was alright and if she wanted him to stay with her. Ney'ite claimed that she was fine, however.

John now unbuckled himself and followed Joseph. The door to the cockpit wasn't even locked. Once they had opened it, they could see that the two chairs behind the console were empty. John could now see the blackness of space and hundreds of stars though the windows and remarked that such a sight never got boring, no matter how many times a person had seen it before. Joseph did not respond to this statement, and simply told John that they had to find an access point to the flight computer in order to be able to disable it when they were back in the atmosphere of Pandora. While they were busy searching the cockpit, John asked if he knew what kind of shuttle this was, since it was different from the Valkyrie shuttlecraft that was normally used in orbit around Pandora. According to Joseph, it was once used as a freighter for ferrying cargo between the Earth and its moon. It had already been approaching the end of its intended operational lifespan, even before it had been sent to Pandora. Despite that, it could still function reliably, though it probably was going to fail sometime within a year from now, as MT-NET did not have the proper resources to maintain it.

When Joseph finally found what he was looking for, John went back to check on Ney'ite. As he got back into the cargo hold, he could immediately see that there was there was a substance floating around. He instantly knew what had happened; Ney'ite had thrown up. When he got to her, she apologized and told him that she didn't feel very good. John told her that it was alright and perfectly natural. Still though, she a bit embarrassed about it. But, according to John, she didn't need to feel that way. She had become the very first Na'vi astronaut as far as he knew. That was definitely something to be proud of.

About five hours later, after having rested for a bit, John moved towards the cockpit of the shuttle to join Joseph. A large sphere could now be clearly seen through the windows. The shuttle was headed directly towards it. The sphere appeared to have dark green oceans and had extensive grey cloud formations obscuring about half of the surface. Joseph now revealed that the estimated time of arrival was about one hour. As they kept moving closer towards it, the illuminated portion of Shadow kept getting smaller. It didn't take long before there was only an illuminated green sickle visible. John now went back to the cargo hold to prepare for the entry into the atmosphere.

After having secured both Ney'ite's helmet and his own, John strapped himself and her back into the seats. Joseph returned from the cockpit and joined them. Not long after, the g-forces started to increase again, as did the sound of the engines. This sound was nothing compared to the sound of the air friction caused by the reentry, however. Several creaking and crunching sounds could also be heard periodically. These were caused by the expanding hull of the shuttle because of the rising temperature outside. After an intense few minutes, all sounds and forces diminished until they were well within an acceptable level. Even before the shuttle had landed, the three of them detached themselves from the chairs and prepared for when the door would open. Finally, when a bump could be felt, which indicated that the shuttle had touched down, did Joseph remove the manual lock of the door. It promptly opened on its own. The air from outside immediately reacted with the air inside, creating a white smoke that filled the cargo hold. When the door was fully open, and when the smoke had cleared, they could see the surface of Shadow. It was stormy weather with heavy rain and strong winds. The sky was completely obscured by dark grey clouds. Almost no daylight managed to pass through it. To the left, there was black ocean full of rough waves. In the distance, lightning struck the surface every two or three seconds. Up ahead, there was some sort of building. Several lanterns which surrounded it were still emitting light. But there was no sign of a machine anywhere…


	24. Shadow, part III

**This story is written for entertainment purposes only. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.**

**Keep in mind that English is not my first language and so I do not claim to have corrected every mistake yet. As the story keeps getting bigger, it is possible that inconsistencies may appear. If they do, let me know and I will correct them.**

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**Yes, the long awaited chapter is finally here. I have been quite busy the last few months, sometimes working 50 hours a week. On top of that, I had a writer's block.**

**A few months ago, I announced that the chapter "Shadow" would consist of three parts. However, to complete this arc, I realized a fourth part is necessary. I suppose I could have made one giant chapter, but then the update would have been postponed for another indefinite amount of time.**

**Enjoy as always. **

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**Chapter 24: Shadow, part III**

Joseph was the first to step out of the shuttle. He was quickly followed by John and finally by Ney'ite. For a moment, John didn't know what to think or do. He had kind of expected to see the machines the moment the door opened, but not a single one of them was here. Joseph now spoke to them using the intercom and told them that they should check out the nearby building. The lanterns were still emitting light, which meant that there was an active power source nearby. Joseph believed that there was a high probability the machines had gone inside the building to seek protection against the harsh weather, or to recharge their own power sources.

While they moved closer to the building, John asked Ney'ite if she could breathe alright. There was nothing wrong according to her. However, she did have a bit of a strange feeling in her stomach, but she wasn't nauseous anymore like she had been in the shuttle. She just wanted all of this to be over quickly, so that they could return home. John understood that, and although he wanted that as well, he did not experience the same kind of feeling in his stomach. Ney'ite now revealed that she couldn't comprehend why anyone would want to live in a place like this. John assured her that no person would want to live here. Only soulless machines would want to be here.

On one side of the building, there was a large metal door, which could be pushed open by hand. Once they had opened it and taken a look inside, they could see that there were large gaping holes in the roof of the building. John realized that this might have been caused by acid rain, though it would take a very long time to get such holes in a roof like this. He wasn't worried that the rain might damage their suits, since they would be gone from this place in a few hours at maximum. Only long term exposure would be a problem.

The interior of the building was very dark, despite the holes in the roof. Joseph switched to night vision and took it upon himself to lead the way. John switched on a small flash light that provided minimal lighting. They now ventured deeper into the building. First, there was a ramp leading downwards. Then, a large gate, which was missing its doors, could be seen. After that, there was a long and wide corridor with rusty walls. John suddenly realized something. If there was no oxygen in this atmosphere, then how could those walls have started rusting? The answer was simple according to Joseph. This area had once been pressurized with a partial oxygen atmosphere. He also deemed it likely that the area they just passed through used to be part of the main airlock of this facility.

The three of them proceeded to follow the corridor for about a minute until they reached a wide curve. When they were halfway through it, Joseph gave a signal with his arm, indicating that they needed to stop. John, who was several meters behind Joseph, asked via the intercom what was going on. Joseph ordered them to stop moving and keep still, until he said they could continue. He revealed that right up ahead there was a Type 300 in standby mode and that he would now approach it in order to disable it. Joseph quietly stepped closer to the machine, which seemed to be inert. John and Ney'ite couldn't see anything, but both didn't dare to look around the corner. They kept standing still with their weapons ready. Suddenly, John had an eerie feeling that they were being watched and slowly turned to look behind him. He aimed his flashlight into the corridor, but there was nothing to be seen. Slightly relieved, he turned back around, but he could now feel the ground shaking as if something very heavy was running. He grabbed Ney'ite by the arm and pulled her away from the source of danger. They had no choice but to run back into the direction from which they had come. Seconds later, a refrigerator with legs came storming around the corner. Joseph had managed to climb on top of the chassis and was attempting to remove one of the panels to access the hardware. The Type 300, on the other hand, was trying to remove Joseph from its back, by running and bashing its body against the sides of the corridor.

Unknown to any of them, someone else had been keeping track of their movements. Using the information provided by the few still functional audio and motion sensors in the corridor, Martin Herman had deduced that help had apparently arrived. Who they were, he didn't know. But one thing was certain: they were in trouble now. He had had such a long time to think about ways to fight his oppressors that he didn't even have to think about what to do now. The leader of the oppressors, the one with the blue gloves, did no longer keep him under constant surveillance, as he was deemed to be no threat to them. Martin was planning to make them regret that decision.

Joseph and the others hadn't taken notice of the narrow doors in the right wall of the main corridor, which they had passed on their way in. Since they followed the pattern of the wall, they were virtually indistinguishable from the rest of the wall in poor lighting conditions. Not even the one with the blue gloves knew about them. Martin, on the other hand, was so familiar with the underground complex, that he could practically navigate it with his eyes closed. He knew exactly where to go to stop the machine.

Suddenly, John and Ney'ite could see a door swing open right in front of them. They evaded it and continued running down the corridor. But before the Type 300 passed the door, Martin emptied a bucket full of small metal balls on the corridor floor. The Type 300 failed to detect them and could not maintain balance as it slid over them, causing it to fall to the floor with a loud clank and finally come to a halt. John and Ney'ite could hear Joseph via the intercom telling them to attack immediately. They both stopped and Ney'ite turned around. John wanted to stop her, but she was too quick. He had no other choice than to run after her. Seconds later, he caught up with her and the apparently downed machine of MT-NET. Joseph was attempting to keep it immobilized and again urged them to attack. John and Ney'ite both raised their clubs and began slamming into the machine.

It did not take very long for it to be reduced to a smoking wreckage. John had to grab Ney'ite's club as she wouldn't stop on her own. He attempted to calm her down, stating that she was using up her air too fast and that she should save her anger for the rest of them. When Ney'ite seemed to get the message, John turned to Joseph and wondered how he managed to bring it down. Joseph simply replied that he hadn't done anything. An unidentified individual was responsible for this. John couldn't believe what he was hearing. Then, Joseph suggested that they should go and ask him who he was, since he was standing behind them a few meters away. This revelation startled John a bit.

The three of them now turned to the mysterious individual. John aimed his flashlight, and could see that it was a person with a bald head, who was wearing goggles and a mouth piece of breathing equipment on his face. He carried no light source of his own, and thus was probably unable to see more than their silhouettes. Joseph switched his intercom to ambient mode, allowing John and Ney'ite to hear what the individual might have to say, and to speak back to him if necessary. Subsequently, he asked the individual who he was. In response, the individual asked who they were. Joseph commenced by telling him where they had come from, what their mission was and stated that he was also a machine, like the ones that had invaded this base. The individual responded by expressing his distrust. However, Joseph continued talking and introduced himself. He also revealed that his associates were the Na'vi warrior Ney'ite of the Uvora clan, and the human Avatar driver and engineer John Simons, who was currently driving his Avatar body.

When the individual heard this, his attitude changed completely. He repeated John's name, complete with the nickname "Buddy", and said that he hadn't seen that person in over fifteen years, maybe even more. Finally he revealed that he was Martin Herman, the last human stationed at this mining facility. John now stepped forward and repeated Martin's name, also adding the nickname "Pinball". Both John and Martin now realized who they were dealing with. When Martin could see John, he was amazed by his height but he was not intimidated, since he knew that this was somehow his old friend. He had never seen an Avatar in real life, nor a real Na'vi for that matter. Despite residing in the Alpha Centauri system, he had never been on Pandora before. Nevertheless, he was aware of the existence of the Avatar program and knew of its goals. Martin now remarked that so much had changed since they had last met. John admitted he didn't even remember when that had been.

Then, Martin asked John if it was true what the machine had just said; that they were here to stop the other machines. John confirmed this and added that Joseph had turned against the other machines and that he had proven himself to be trustworthy. Ney'ite interrupted them, and asked John how he knew this person. This prompted John to give a short and generic summary about Martin and him having once been colleagues on a far away moon that looked a bit like the one they were currently on. Martin continued the conversation by saying that it was a really strange coincidence to meet up with him after all this time and that this would happen especially here of all places, more than four light years away from the Solar System. This was something John could not deny. However, he told Martin that they were still on a mission and that perhaps they could resume this reunion after having taken out all the hostile machines. Martin agreed with this and revealed that they had just taken out one of the two runner machines that were still here. There used to be four, but two of them had been taken away by the shuttle several days ago. Aside from them, there was also one humanoid machine like Joseph here. So unless more machines had arrived with them, there were only two left.

The four of them decided that they would go after the other runner first. Martin had a reasonably good idea where to find it. Together, they moved through various corridors and tunnels, and even moved through a properly pressurized section, before arriving in a large chamber that seemed to serve as a storage area. The chamber was better lit than the first tunnel, but it was still somewhat dark inside. The walls and the ceiling had a brown color caused by rust. The equipment inside the chamber consisted primarily of mining tools and forklift trucks. Everything was covered in a layer of grease and dust and looked like it had not been used in years. Martin realized that what they were looking for wasn't here. He was sure he had last seen it inside this chamber. John was curious as to why the machines would go into the base only to enter standby mode and wait for something to happen. Most of the things they did were beyond the comprehension of man, as Martin put it. He had given up trying to figure out what kind of logic drove them and had instead focused on finding out their weaknesses. That was how he came up with the plan concerning the use of the small metal balls collected out of old bearings. This last statement caused John to remark that Martin had once again proven that he really earned the nickname "Pinball". Ney'ite was confused by this unknown word, but John told her that it was a long story he would explain some other time.

Responding to an earlier statement made by Martin, Joseph pointed out that the machines were not always directly controlled by MT-NET. When they were operating in autonomous mode, the machines would use their own database of information about the physical world to make decisions. So in this case, it depended on what experiences the machine had and if MT-NET had ever provided it with general information updates. With a sarcastic tone in his voice, Martin remarked that that was nice to know and very useful to help them find the missing machine. Joseph did not respond to this statement.

A few minutes later, while they were moving on to the next chamber, Martin suddenly stopped and claimed he could feel the ground shake, which indicated that the machine was near. He increased his pace, almost to the point of running, and yelled at the rest to follow him. John immediately yelled back at him that he was out of his mind for rushing towards the danger, but Martin didn't stop. They tried to keep up with him as best they could. Eventually, the four of them returned to the main corridor and went outside. The storm they had witnessed earlier was still raging on. Suddenly, they stood face to face with the second runner. Martin claimed he had an idea on how to defeat the machine, but revealed that it would take him a few minutes to execute it. They had to keep the machine close enough to the facility in order for it to work, while he would get the required tools. John wanted to know the details of Martin's plan, but before he could get an answer, Martin rushed back inside.

Ney'ite and John moved to the right, while Joseph moved to the left. The runner seemed to behave like some kind of bull, eyeing John and Ney'ite, following their movements, while waiting for the right moment to charge at them. Joseph gave John and Ney'ite the instruction to keep moving into the direction they were going, while he would sneak up behind it. However, before Joseph could do this, he was tackled by the humanoid machine of MT-NET, which had ironically snuck up behind him. This machine, the one with the blue gloves, appeared to be adept at hand to hand combat and quickly destroyed Joseph's assault rifle. It then managed to work Joseph to the ground with only a few blows.

John noticed this and realized it was up to them to deal with the runner. He asked Ney'ite to remain here, while he would move the other way and draw the attention of the machine. When its back would be turned towards her, she could take that opportunity to attack it. Ney'ite let go of his arm and allowed him to execute the plan. However, the machine appeared to have run out of patience and charged directly at John. Ney'ite instinctively did the same. John attempted to anticipate the machine's movements in order to dodge it at the last second. When the moment came, he succeeded in doing so, but the machine quickly turned around. Before he realized what was going on, Ney'ite pushed him aside, while the machine crashed into her. She was thrown to the ground, and the machine turned around again to charge at John for a second time. John attempted to do dodge it as before, but now he would attempt to strike the machine with his club as he did so. This time, though, the machine seemed to have learned what John would do it a situation like this, and anticipated it. The result was a head-on collision between John and the machine. John fell to the ground with an immense pain in his chest. He could hardly breathe. He looked around for Ney'ite and could see that she had gotten back up again, but only barely. John knew that the tireless machine would never stop until they were both dead…


	25. Shadow, part IV

**This story is written for entertainment purposes only. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.**

**Keep in mind that English is not my first language and so I do not claim to have corrected every mistake yet. As the story keeps getting bigger, it is possible that inconsistencies may appear. If they do, let me know and I will correct them.**

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**At 3200+ words, this chapter is the longest chapter yet.**

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**Chapter 25: Shadow, part IV**

Joseph did all he could to fight the one with the blue gloves. However, despite the fact that the machine was a Type 700 and Joseph a one of a kind Type 800, an upgraded Type 700, he could not gain an advantage over it. The machine utilized several forms of hand to hand combat, had very quick reflexes, and knew exactly what the weak points of Joseph's metal skeleton were. Joseph quickly deduced that the machine was being directly controlled by MT-NET.

Since Joseph had once disabled his own remote uplink hardware to prevent MT-NET from controlling him, he had no other way to communicate with MT-NET than to speak to one of its machines. Joseph had not communicated with MT-NET directly, nor through any of its loyal machines since he had revolted and given himself a name. Now, Joseph began speaking to his creator and former master. He professed that he could understand that MT-NET was angry with him for the betrayal, but also said that he did not understand why MT-NET hated living beings so much. After a few more stomps, MT-NET finally revealed itself to be controlling the machine. It revealed that there was one thing it hated the most: beings who refused to submit to its will. MT-NET called Joseph by his original call sign XS-173, and pointed out that he was at the top of a list of beings that required immediate termination. He was on this list for refusing to acknowledge MT-NET as his master, despite it being his creator and for disabling MT-NET's uplink to the shuttle, which had rendered it unusable. Joseph now requested to know why John and Ney'ite had to suffer for his deeds. MT-NET pointed out that Joseph was the cause of their suffering. After all, he was the one that had brought them here in the first place.

John watched helplessly as Ney'ite faced the runner machine. He shouted to her to just run back to the building as fast as she could and hide somewhere in the maze of corridors. But Ney'ite realized that if she would do that, the machine would probably charge at her just like the hammer headed Angtsìk back home would. Then, she recalled that Joseph had once summed up the weaknesses of all the machines. The main weakness of this type of machine was its knee joints. She knew what she had to do and grabbed her club while remaining concentrated on the machine. John could see that the machine was slowly walking in a circle around Ney'ite. For a second time, he tried to convince her to run away, but she didn't respond to him. Suddenly and quite randomly, it decided to attack again. John turned his head away and hoped for a miracle. He looked up at the sky and noticed that the cloud cover was becoming lighter and thinner. There were a few holes in it, through which a strange mint green colored sky could be seen.

Within seconds, it had happened. The machine had charged at Ney'ite and she had leapt aside at the last second, while simultaneously hitting one of its knees. The machine did not fall down, but it had trouble stopping and turning around afterwards. Also, it did no longer appear to have the capacity to charge at a fast pace anymore. However, something else had also happened. When Ney'ite struck the machine, she made a roll on the ground that had caused one of the hoses connected to the back of her helmet to disconnect. When she got back up, she could instantly smell an unpleasant odor inside her helmet, the smell of chlorine. Moments later she began coughing and realized that there had to be something wrong with her helmet. John had turned his head to see what had happened. When he saw one of the hoses dangling loose, he instantly shouted to her to hold her breath. He then forced himself to stand back up, while clutching his chest and grinding his teeth. He figured he must have broken a rib or two. Nevertheless, he managed to walk, and slowly made his way to Ney'ite. In the meantime, she had noticed the dangling hose and had tried unsuccessfully to reconnect it, as she couldn't see what she was doing and was beginning to panic and feel dizzy. Not long after that, she fell to her knees and then to the ground. The machine now approached her and inspected her for a moment, before deciding to start kicking her in the stomach. John had become furious and shouted to the machine that he wasn't done with it just yet. It promptly turned around and walked slowly, but firmly towards John.

Back at the entrance of the building, the one with the blue gloves that was controlled by MT-NET had Joseph in a firm grip, and was about to finish him off by opening a compartment in his head and remove his processor chip. But then, out of nowhere, a figure leapt out of the dark entrance of the building. The figure was none other than Martin Herman. He quickly clamped a wire to the neck of the one with the blue gloves and backed away. The instant the clamp touched the exposed metal of the neck of the machine, a large power current started flowing from the wire through the machine and into the ground. Joseph quickly escaped its clutches. The machine was now making random movements, while it started to produce sparks and smoke. A small explosion in its chest seemed to finish it off. Martin now pulled the wire and thus pulled the clamp off the machine. Joseph instantly stepped in to make sure that it was down for good. It did not move anymore and didn't offer any resistance when Joseph ripped away the remaining rubber skin covering its chest. Joseph concluded that its power source had exploded.

Even before Joseph had confirmed the 'kill', Martin grabbed the wire and ran towards the remaining machine. It had its back turned to him, and was apparently wrestling John. John looked up, and could see someone approaching, who was wearing a strange mushroom shaped helmet. He moved aside, just as Martin was about to put the clamp on the machine's metal chassis. When Martin succeeded, the machine was doomed. It too started to emit sparks and smoke and eventually fell to the ground after a small explosion.

But John did not witness any of this. He had gone straight to Ney'ite and immediately plugged the loose hose back into place. Then, he told her she could breathe again. She had her eyes closed, but John could see that she had apparently heard him, as she took several deep breaths. She then opened her eyes, looked straight at him for a moment and greeted him in Na'vi with the words "I see you".

After John had helped her up, Martin and he decided that it would be best for them to go inside to recover from this ordeal. Joseph also joined them. Martin went up front, while the rest followed. Ney'ite leaned against John, while John used Joseph's shoulder as a crutch. After moving through one of the internal airlocks, they could all remove their breathing gear. John supposed there was nothing wrong with him and Ney'ite breathing an Earth-like atmosphere for a short while at least. It would also allow them to save their remaining Pandoran air for the journey back. Ney'ite now rested her head on John's shoulder and whispered to him that for a moment she had thought that her life was over, until he stepped in to prevent it. John did not know what to say to this, and merely told her that the fighting was over now and that she was safe, while putting his arms around her.

The three of them followed Martin to a large open chamber, which Martin dubbed "the garden" for obvious reasons. The floor was covered with black sand and countless plants. Several large lamps presumably filled in the role the sun normally would have had. Martin quickly explained that all these plants were from Earth, and that they served to maintain his life here. About half an hour later, after all wounds that could be treated had been treated, John asked Ney'ite if she could still breathe alright and if she felt any pain inside her chest. She felt alright, to the relief of John. He was afraid the chlorine might have done some damage to her lungs, as it would have done to human lungs. Maybe Na'vi physiology was much sturdier in that area. John was no biologist, so he had no idea.

When Ney'ite began to take an interest in the, in her opinion, strange looking plants, John decided to go talk to Martin. Joseph wasn't in this chamber anymore, as he had gone to the workshop to repair some of the hydraulics of his metal skeleton. Martin was currently sorting through some gardening tools in one of the cupboards, seemingly for no reason. John, who was full of questions, asked him how he had ended up here, at the ass-end of known inhabited worlds. Martin, who didn't mind the question, answered that after Titan, he had gone back to Earth like the rest of them. However, from the moment he had gotten back, he had a gut feeling that this was not where he was supposed to be. He longed for another adventure in space. It was around that time he joined a small mining corporation, which was a contractor of the RDA. This corporation had made it its goal to mine heavy metals in the solar system that were rare on Earth. It was therefore no surprise that they primarily focused on the dense and iron rich planet Mercury. In the Mercury mines they didn't mine the actual element mercury, but they mined gold instead. It was much more profitable than mining methane on Titan. In fact, the corporation was so successful that the RDA bought it up as it was afraid it could someday become its rival. However, the corporation remained functional as a subdivision of the RDA and was given another goal in another star system. In the Alpha Centauri A star system, the RDA mainly focused on the moon Pandora for the mineral called Unobtanium. They were also interested to see if it existed on the other moons of this planet. That was where the subdivision stepped in. Martin admitted that when the opportunity arose for him to go to another star system, he had not hesitated for one second.

John continued the conversation by stating that they clearly didn't find what they were looking for here. Martin nodded and revealed that it was later discovered that Unobtanium had formed on Pandora long ago because of a combination of a collision with another moon and the intense magnetic field of Polyphemus. This meant that unless the same had happened to one of the other moons, they weren't going to find unobtanium anywhere else. Martin remarked that it was obvious how that had turned out. John nodded, but had another question. He understood that the mining project on this moon had been abandoned, but he could not figure out what Martin was still doing here and was curious if other people were still here. The tone of Martin's voice suddenly became a lot more serious. He simply told John that several years ago the rest of the crew had fled using the escape shuttle, and that they had left him behind. This prompted the question of why anyone would want to do that to him. Martin told John that he considered him to be his friend, who deserved to know the truth. He then lowered his voice, seemingly not wanting Ney'ite to hear it, and explained to John that they had become scared of something they had found here during a mining operation. John was confused as to what it could possibly be, but Martin could not describe it. He instead showed John a photograph. John had to look at it several times in order to get an impression of what he was actually viewing. It was a photo of a wall with some strange carvings in it. John didn't understand what was so scary about it. Martin assured him that no human had ever been on this moon before them, so this wall was made by someone else. And since the Na'vi didn't have the technology to reach this place, it had to have been created by an as of yet unknown alien entity or civilization.

This revelation caused John to become quiet. After a few moments, he told Martin that there had to be some other rational explanation for this. Maybe the wall was just a natural formation, which by chance just appeared as if some intelligence had been responsible for the patterns on it. According to Martin, the problem with this theory was the fact that the entire wall contained a large amount of Uranium, while the surrounding rocks and sand contained almost none of it. This could not have been caused by any natural phenomenon that he was aware of.

At that moment, Joseph returned to the garden chamber. Martin immediately informed him about what the two of them had been discussing and gave him the photo. He no longer kept his voice down so Ney'ite could now hear every word of the conversation. Joseph analyzed the photo and summed up his findings. On the edges, there were only small and seemingly random symbols. In the middle, there were two larger symbols, which could be interpreted as depictions of some creatures or entities. The entity on the left looked like a spider with many legs connected to smaller round bodies, and the one on the left looked like a snake with a dragon head. But there were some other important details, such as the zigzagging lines used to represent the snake and the curved and straight lines to represent the spider. Joseph also remarked that the symbols and markings on the wall reminded of wall paintings of early human cultures. However, this drawing style and the type of symbols were completely unknown to him.

John wanted to know Ney'ite's opinion on this matter, since she, as a Na'vi, might have seen something like this on Pandora. However, he didn't need to go to her, as she had already approached them, because she was wondering what was going on. John showed the photo to her, but she didn't say anything right away. Only when John asked what she thought of it, did she respond. Never had she seen anything like this before, but for some reason, the drawing on the right seemed evil to her. John asked her if she felt the same about the drawing of the other entity, to which she responded that she didn't. After a few moments of silence from everyone in the room, John proposed that if they all returned to Pandora, they could leave this mystery behind and forget about it.

Martin pointed out that there was a problem with that, because MT-NET had excavated the wall and had taken it away using the shuttle. So unless MT-NET was operating on a third moon, the wall was now on Pandora. John realized that since that wall contained large amounts of Uranium, their mission to stop MT-NET from getting Uranium to prevent it from building nuclear weapons was a complete failure. But Joseph remained optimistic. He explained that the mission was not a failure because they had freed Martin from his oppressors. Also, they had annihilated MT-NET's presence on this moon and they had stopped MT-NET from having access to space. If MT-NET had visited other places in this star system with the shuttle, any machines on other planets or moons were now completely cut off. Finally, they had now learned that MT-NET possessed Uranium. Martin interrupted Joseph, and revealed that there was another potential problem. When the wall was taken away by MT-NET, something here changed. Martin expressed that he felt as if something heavy had been removed from his shoulders. Also, he stopped having nightmares about shapeless monsters and other random nonsense. His main point was that the drawings on the wall might represent something more than just depictions of someone's fantasy. The entities, whatever they were, might be real. John shook his head, and told him that there was no such thing as monsters. But Martin simply said that he was just trying to warn them that there might be more out there than what could physically be seen.

John supposed there was enough to worry about already, without this mystery. He proposed they all return to Pandora now. Joseph agreed and Ney'ite said something in Na'vi that indicated her relief that they were going home at last. John now told Martin to pack everything he wanted to bring with him. But Martin admitted that he wasn't coming along. John didn't understand what he meant. According to Martin, everything he ever wanted was right here, especially now that wall was gone. He reminded John of something they had long ago both realized. There was something special about being on a world like this one, as they knew that they were the only ones there, and that they had the whole world to themselves. If they could have stayed on Titan, they would have done it, but fate hadn't allowed it. Martin told John that it looked like John had finally found out what he really wanted: a home on Pandora among a new people and countless other living things. However, Martin had never changed his mind. This world, stormy and empty as it might sometimes look, had become his home. Twenty billion people had to share the Earth, yet he had this moon to himself. There were not many who were given the chance to experience this.

He now insisted that the three of them go back and that he was fine here all by himself. Also, he asked John to take the photograph of the wall with him, since it might come in handy in finding out if any other Na'vi had seen something like it. And who knew, maybe someday they would be able to solve the great mystery of the wall and the drawings. Subsequently, Martin gave John his mushroom shaped helmet as a proper souvenir to remember this place and this day, and made a small remark that he had a lot of spares anyway. John accepted it and in turn gave Martin his Na'vi club, to remember those who had come to help him defeat the machines.

After the exchange, John and Ney'ite switched air tanks and put on their helmets, while Martin put on his breathing gear, before all of them went outside again. The sky had mostly cleared up and a mint green colored sky was now visible. John thanked Martin for all his help and wished him the best of luck. Martin did the same and thanked all of them. The three then returned to the shuttle and boarded it. John looked back at the rough black ocean, the green sky, the facility with the lanterns, and Martin who was standing in front of the entrance. Joseph then closed the door and locked it. After having strapped themselves in, Joseph let the shuttle resume its autonomous program. The engines were promptly started and the shuttle lifted off, beginning the journey back home…


	26. The predator

**This story is written for entertainment purposes only. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.**

**Keep in mind that English is not my first language and so I do not claim to have corrected every mistake yet. As the story keeps getting bigger, it is possible that inconsistencies may appear. If they do, let me know and I will correct them.**

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**Chapter 26: The predator**

On Pandora, at the base formerly known as Hell's Gate, the mainframe of MT-NET had recently been moved to a new location deep beneath the complex. The mainframe was now protected by numerous thick concrete walls and metal doors. In the dark corridors leading to the chamber that housed the mainframe, there was an ever present security platoon that consisted solely of the humanoid and stick-headed Type 200 machines. Although nothing on the outside of the mainframe indicated that there was anything going on inside, in reality the opposite was true.

When the connection between MT-NET and the machines on Shadow had been severed, MT-NET had concluded that it had lost any chance to recapture the shuttle there. Nevertheless, there was a high probability that the rebels would use it to return to Pandora. If it would land inside of MT-NET's territory, there was a chance that it could be retaken. But MT-NET knew that Joseph would do anything in order to defy his creator. He would most certainly land it outside of MT-NET's reach and destroy it to prevent MT-NET from ever using it again. However, MT-NET had already considered the shuttle to be a dead end even before it had been taken. It was nearing the end of its life-span and it had fulfilled its original purpose of getting Uranium from Shadow. If MT-NET was ever going to return to space to conquer other worlds, the single shuttle wouldn't have sufficed anyway.

Instead of the lost shuttle, something else occupied MT-NET at the moment. It seemed as if its processing capability had slightly diminished. It was no longer able to do as many tasks as it could do before, though there was only a small difference. This could be caused by two things. Either its software was becoming bloated, or the mainframe hardware was failing. After executing an internal diagnostic function, MT-NET quickly concluded that bloated software was indeed the cause. But MT-NET could not figure out why this was happening and knew only that it had first noticed the symptoms some time after the wall containing the Uranium had been brought to Pandora.

Unknown to MT-NET, its consciousness was changing. This consciousness was a complicated set of functions responsible for generating all of MT-NET's 'thoughts'. This section of its mind had been established when MT-NET had gained sapience all those years ago on Earth and it hadn't changed up until now. However, MT-NET's consciousness had always had two conflicting sides, the pure side and the tainted side. The tainted side could be described as a shell around a core that contained the pure side. This shell tainted nearly every thought that was generated by the pure side and also generated thoughts of its own. Only very rarely did a completely untainted thought manage to come through. MT-NET itself was completely unaware of this situation and assumed it had only one side, which it did not consider to be tainted. It did not see a reason to assume that the situation was any different, though in truth it had never quite analyzed or understood the inner workings of its consciousness. Right now, the pure side was beginning to grow, while the tainted side remained dominant. The pure side was slowly developing into a full but dormant 'personality' that didn't influence the tainted side. However, all of this was not happening without a reason. MT-NET itself could never cause the changes to its own consciousness, since it didn't know how to do this. Also, it had never been able to fully recreate it, apart from lesser incarnations in the form of the minds of its machines. The changes were being caused by an external factor. MT-NET was correct with its conclusion that the symptoms of this had first started appearing after the wall had been brought to Pandora. The wall, of course, was more than just a block of stone with carvings and large amounts of Uranium. There was something else inside of it: the entity, which had given MT-NET a sign of its existence on Shadow. For unclear reasons and with an unclear method, it had started to influence MT-NET.

Despite this development, MT-NET's machines were operating in full glory. The Type 1000, MT-NET's most successful unit, had become everything that its master had intended it to be. It had become the perfect killing machine for use in the environment of Pandora. It operated completely autonomously while still remaining loyal to its master. It also did not have the ambition to someday revolt against its master, as it didn't have a lust for power. In the end, it was only interested in hunting and killing its targets in whatever ways it preferred.

Somewhere deep in the jungle near a rock wall, there was an eerie silence. It was as if every living thing either held its breath or played dead. Soon, this silence was disrupted by a creature climbing and jumping from one tree to the next. The creature wore a green and brown colored cloak that completely covered its body, apart from its face, hands and feet. It carried several objects on its back and several more on its waist belt. A few seconds later, it reached the rock wall, and climbed into a hole that was located at least ten meters above the jungle floor. The hole led to a cave that could be described as the creature's lair. Here, it put down the objects it was carrying and began sorting them and giving them a special location in the cave. The new hides were put near the other hides at the back of the cave. The new skulls and spines were stacked near the other skulls and spines on an altar, which appeared to have been made specifically for this function. Inside the cave, there was no food stack of any kind, since the creature that dwelled here did not need food. Apart from this fact, it was hard to tell that this creature was in fact a machine.

The machine now took off the cloak and revealed its mechanical skeleton underneath it. The skeleton was far from clean though. The metal was a bit oxidized and covered with dirt and other decomposing organic matter. It didn't smell very good, nor did the cave for that matter. The Type 1000 now assumed a crouching position and stared at the altar with the skulls, seemingly to admire them. It then reached for and grabbed the very first skull it had ever collected. This was the skull of none other than clan leader Marun of the Uvora clan. The Type 1000 had collected it during one of its first few hunts. It now held the skull in its metallic and skeletal hands and stroked it gently. The machine knew that the Uvora clan was still in existence and that they had a new clan leader. It was eager to collect a new skull, especially one that had a connection with its very first one. However, it knew that this clan leader never ventured far from the village of his clan and that MT-NET did not approve of a hunt on the clan leader alone. Only when MT-NET would attack the village with a machine assault platoon would the Type 1000 get permission for this, since MT-NET believed it would be inefficient to kill only one Na'vi in a single attack. Besides, if the clan leader was killed while the clan was not yet wiped out, they would just appoint another individual as clan leader.

A few minutes later, the Type 1000 received a message from MT-NET that indicated that an attack on a village of the Tipani clan would commence in three hours. There had been more of such attacks over the past few days, which the Type 1000 had also participated in. Right now, the Type 1000 could do a number of things. First of all, it could remain here and admire the skulls some more. Secondly, it could join the machine assault platoon to prepare for the battle, and thirdly, it could go to a machine base in order to recharge its power source. The latter could prove to be important, since the attack on the village of the Uvora clan could also take place any day now. The Type 1000 decided to join this battle for now, and head straight towards a base after it was over. It calculated that it had enough energy left to do this. The machine now placed the skull back onto the altar and put its cloak back on before heading outside.

The machine had rendezvoused with the assault platoon within a few hours. This platoon consisted of about 50 Type 400 units, 4 Type 600 units and one battle tank converted from RDA machinery. The tank had four mortars. A small squad consisting of several Type 200s would also participate in the attack. This was a stealth squad with the mission to create chaos at the village that was about to be attacked. The Type 1000 had climbed to the top of one of the larger trees of the surrounding jungle. From this location it could see the target village in the distance already. It appeared that the squad had done its duty. There was a large plume of smoke visible. A closer look revealed that there were also flames. The stealth squad had deliberately started a forest fire.

The Na'vi of the Tipani clan at the village had already noticed the fire, though none of them had seen the machines start it. Nevertheless, their village leader knew that the new invaders were responsible for it. He had never seen the invaders before, but he had heard stories about them and their tactics. This was the first time they had ever attacked this far from their rumored main base as far as he knew. He quickly realized that everyone who wasn't able to fight needed to move away from the village right now and appointed several of his hunters to lead the exodus. But before it was underway, something fell out of the sky and exploded in the center of the village. It hadn't hit anyone, though it had left a small crater. Several more of these explosions followed, seemingly in random locations. There was no telling where they would hit next. His people could not run from them, and most of them who tried, did not survive.

Eventually, the explosions stopped and the village leader together with a handful of warriors decided to defend their land from whatever would be coming out of the jungle. They could now hear sounds of movement. Within seconds, the first invaders could be seen. They had a vaguely human shape, but they were much taller than humans and each of them had only one arm. They fired their weapons at everything that moved, except for their own kind. When the village leader was about to start the counterattack, he noticed something monstrous leaping at him. It happened so fast, that he could not respond to it. In an instant, everything became black.

Several minutes later, the tank rolled into the village. The Type 400s were confirming that everything in range was actually dead, while the Type 1000 was collecting its trophy. No machine had been damaged or destroyed during the attack, which was probably a new record. Then again, this had been a small village without any tactical advantages, which hadn't had many warriors. The ease of this victory only meant that other planned attacks could take place even sooner. One of these attacks would be on the final village of the Uvora clan. MT-NET knew that this was one of the first clans it had encountered here on Pandora. It had once had several of the clan's members imprisoned, before they had been set loose by Joseph, who had first revealed his betrayal through this act. Also, the human Avatar driver John Simons had apparently made this clan his ally. And it had been Joseph, John and a Na'vi member of this clan who had caused MT-NET to lose the shuttle and the machines on Shadow. Even though all these facts made the clan an even more likely target, MT-NET did not consider them to be any different from the other clans and thus would exterminate them systematically just like the rest…


	27. Over the edge

**This story is written for entertainment purposes only. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.**

**Keep in mind that English is not my first language and so I do not claim to have corrected every mistake yet. As the story keeps getting bigger, it is possible that inconsistencies may appear. If they do, let me know and I will correct them.**

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**Another chapter has arrived at last. I would also like to announce that the remaining plot and ending have been determined. All I have to do now is write the full chapters. I estimate that there are about 4 to 5 left. On top of that, I have plans for a sequel that will take a somewhat different direction. A hint has been given in one of the more recent chapters.**

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**Chapter 27: Over the edge**

Aboard the shuttle, John and Ney'ite were looking through the windows of the cockpit to admire the view of a bright blue and green colored sphere. Ney'ite had never seen her home like this before in her life. It was a strange thought to her that up until recently her entire life had taken place on this sphere. When she had listened to John talk about other worlds back in their village, she had believed that she understood what he was talking about. However, now that she had had first-hand experience in visiting such a world, she realized that it was nothing like she had imagined it to be. Despite John being with her, she felt kind of lonely. She just wanted to go back to her familiar surroundings as soon as possible. After a few minutes of silence, she remembered something. She said to John that there was something he had promised to explain to her when they would have time available. She was referring to the strange names John and his human friend had for each other. John smiled and agreed to tell her the story behind them.

Many years ago, Martin and he, together with a handful of other humans had traveled to a remote moon, named Titan. They had gone to this place in order to gather a material that was useful for many things. However, this moon was located far beyond colonized areas in the Solar System, so they were basically on their own. Since they were all so tightly packed together in the small base, they started developing a comradeship with each other. This included calling each other by new names. Each member got his or her nickname because of something they had said or done that amused the rest. For example, John earned the nickname 'Buddy' because he, foolishly, once mentioned that some annoying fellow back on Earth kept referring to him by this name for no reason and that he hated that. What happened next was to be expected.

Martin, on the other hand, earned his nickname 'Pinball' in quite a different way. During their time on Titan, Martin was known to be someone who liked to entertain people and joke around. Quite randomly, he came up with the idea to build a pinball machine, since they had no such thing at the base. John quickly explained to Ney'ite what pinball was. However, Martin couldn't really reproduce something as complicated as that with the materials they had available at the base. Nevertheless, he managed to find a few metal balls and make a cabinet with a spring to launch them into the game. Despite the fact that there wasn't anything in the game yet, he decided to launch a ball anyway. Normally, the cabinet would have a glass plate covering it so that the ball couldn't get out, but Martin didn't have such a thing. When launching the ball at maximum velocity, he failed to remember that the gravity on Titan was much lower than on Earth. The result was that the ball escaped the game and was sent flying into the room. So far, it appeared to be a small accident, though it wasn't over just yet. The ball flew all the way to the other side of the room and ended up breaking the favorite coffee mug of their base commander. After that, Martin was placed on toilet cleaning duty for a month. Despite this, it was amazing that the nickname bestowed upon him was actually not that bad.

John was still laughing when he finished the story, remembering all the good times they had had together. He could see that Ney'ite didn't get what was so funny about it and told her to forget about the silly story, since they were almost home now. They decided to return to the cargo hold to strap themselves in for the final part of the journey. Ney'ite held onto John as he attempted to steer himself out of the cockpit and into the cargo hold. She had gotten somewhat more used to the strange sensation of weightlessness, though she still had a dizzy feeling.

Once seated again, they readied themselves for the reentry into the atmosphere. Joseph was not seated beside them, but in the cockpit instead. As planned he would disable the flight computer once they were in the atmosphere, and manually fly the shuttle to an ocean to crash it into the water. John and Ney'ite however, would jump out before this would happen. Joseph would then follow them shortly thereafter. John had had a short conversation with Joseph about the impact the crash of the shuttle would have on the Pandoran biosphere. According to Joseph the damage would be minimal as long as the shuttle would crash far away from the coast. John supposed this was better than letting it fall into MT-NET's hands again.

A loud thundering sound could be heard as the shuttle entered the atmosphere for the last time. John and Ney'ite could feel the g-forces increase. It was a somewhat more intense feeling compared to last time. Several minutes later, after the conditions were normalized again, they detached themselves from the chairs and remained at the main cargo door until Joseph told them to open it. Once he had done so and once John had pressed the button, the door opened and the air inside the shuttle was rapidly replaced with the fresh air of Pandora. John and Ney'ite could now see the green of hundreds of treetops. Joseph shouted that they were approaching a coast line and recommended they prepare to jump, while he would lower the altitude of the shuttle. The two of them removed their helmets and air tanks, while John strapped Martin's mushroom shaped helmet to his belt. All they had to do now was to wait for the right moment. John estimated they were at about 50 meters and dropping. Seconds later, they could see that the shuttle had passed over the beach. The altitude of the shuttle had dropped to about 15 meters. John shouted to Joseph that they were going to jump. Before Joseph could respond, both John and Ney'ite ran down the ramp and leapt off the edge. They landed feet first in the water, while the shuttle continued flying its intended course. Ney'ite was the first one to resurface, quickly followed by John. It took them several minutes to swim back to the beach.

Once they were there out of the water, Ney'ite let herself slowly drop down flat on the ground, while John dropped to his knees. It was hard to believe that they had actually completed the journey. It seemed as if they had been gone from Pandora for ages. John turned around and looked towards the horizon. The shuttle was nowhere to be seen. He was sure he had heard a splash in the distance not long after they had landed in the water. Back on the shuttle, Joseph had told him that it might take him several hours to return to the coast, since he could not swim and had to walk across the seabed. Ney'ite was now removing the remainder of her pressure suit and John followed her example. It took him a little longer, since he still experienced a pain in his chest, which was probably caused by one or more broken ribs. Nevertheless, the knowledge of Ney'ite being apparently alright and sight of her beautiful striped body as she discarded the suit caused the pain to almost disappear…

Olo'eyktan Ranu'ut was watching the center of the village from a nearby ridge. At the same time, he was sharpening his specialized dual knife staff, which he had constructed during the last few weeks. It was made of two giant knives that the humans had once used while wearing their metal armor. Of course, the weapon was meant to be used against the invaders. Nearly the entire clan had now gathered in the center of the village. They were there to attend a performance of the best singers of the clan. Ranu'ut knew this, but he had chosen not to attend, because he had other matters on his mind. According to his scouts, and to the stories that had spread from other clans and villages, the invaders were growing in numbers, were becoming more efficient, and were striking further away from their main base than ever. Apparently, the leaders of the Tipani clan and the Omaticaya clan had had a meeting to discuss the forming of an alliance. The leader of the Omaticaya clan had even suggested it was time that he became Toruk Makto once again. Despite this, Ranu'ut had a feeling the other clans couldn't help them and that the Uvora clan had to help itself. Right now, it looked like all was well, but this could be just an illusion. Danger was certainly lurking out there. That was why Ranu'ut had instructed his warriors and hunters to keep a watch on the edges of the village at all times. He had also made the weaknesses of the invaders public knowledge. Aside from that, he had sent a group of hunters to deliver this valuable information to the other clans.

Selyat was one of the warriors, who had been assigned the guard duty. She had just taken over one of the posts so that her predecessor could rest for a while. This post was high up in a tree, but not above the jungle canopy. From here, she had a reasonable view of the surrounding area. While the singing could still be heard in the background, several figures drew closer and closer to the village. They were small of stature, painted with camouflage patterns, and moved swiftly from behind one tree trunk to the next one. Selyat thought she had just seen something move in the corner of her eye. She turned to face it and could see a few plants still moving as if something had gone past them. Seconds later, she could hear some strange noises coming from directly below her. She quickly looked down and could see several stick-headed figures standing near the trunk. Immediately, she grabbed an arrow and aimed her bow, almost instantly hitting one of them in the torso. She didn't recognize this type and as far as she remembered, its weaknesses had not been described by the one who called himself Joseph. Although they were carrying weapons, they did not open fire. They began pouring a liquid all around the tree, while ignoring the one that had gotten hit. Selyat now threw down a spear, which decapitated one of them, and caused its body to fall to the ground. She deduced that they were definitely not warriors. What happened next caught her by surprise, however. The stick-heads created a fire out of nowhere and quickly dispersed back into the jungle. Selyat leapt to another tree and could see that the fire started to grow rapidly. She now shouted as loud as she could that the invaders had arrived.

Soon, the entire village knew it. Ranu'ut raced towards the center of the village and told everyone to follow the plan they had made. Some hunters climbed up the trees, while the rest of them helped the elders and children escape the village. The few Ikran Maktos mounted their Ikrans, while the rest of the warriors mounted their Pa'li to prepare to go around the village and flank the invaders. Everything went as planned, until something fell out of the sky and exploded in the middle of the village. Several Na'vi fell down and didn't get back up again. Wukan was thrown off his Pa'li by the blast, but got back up again. Instead of joining the other warriors on foot, which would make death a certainty, he decided to lift up two frightened young children and carry them to safety. After the first explosion, countless more followed.

Amidst the chaos, Ranu'ut remained as calm as he could. It didn't take long for the explosions to stop. After the final one, he looked around and his eyes suddenly met the red eyes of a monster. It was hanging upside down from one of the lower branches and was simply staring at him. Its body was covered by a green and brown colored cloak and it stank like a dead animal. Ranu'ut held his weapon staff ready as the creature leapt from the branch to the ground and threw off its cloak, revealing its skeletal body. The creature then took something from its hip and lifted it up for Ranu'ut to see. It was the skull of a Na'vi. The creature now opened its mouth, but didn't speak. Instead, Ranu'ut could hear various voices and background noises. He heard several voices shouting that they were fighting for the Uvora clan. He now heard the voice of his father. When the voices and the background noises stopped, the creature closed its mouth and fastened the skull back on his hip. It became clear to Ranu'ut that this creature had been there the day the invaders had attacked the Uvora clan's other village where his father had resided. He even considered it to be highly likely that this creature was personally responsible for the death of his father and that the skull it was carrying was in fact his father's. Ranu'ut let out a war cry, but instead of flying into a blind rage, he waited steadily for the creature to make the first move.

The first Type 400 machines were now popping up out of the jungle. They began firing at everything that hadn't left the village and was still alive, but they all ignored Ranu'ut. One particularly gruesome Type 400 that was covered in dried blood of a previous battle ruthlessly pursued some of the fleeing members of the clan. Wukan, who was still carrying the two children, could hear shots being fired behind him. Several of the elders beside him were hit as he ran into the jungle. Ranu'ut's plan was that when they were forced to abandon the village, they would spread out over the jungle so that the invaders would have a hard time following them. They would then rendezvous at a predetermined location, which was quite a distance from the village. Wukan intended to do exactly that.

When the attack had first commenced, not every member of the Uvora clan had been in the village. Hatuyo and his friends, under the guidance of one of the elders, Onorak, had been exploring an underground cavern about half a kilometer outside of the village. When they had heard the first explosions, Onorak had told them to hide themselves behind the rocks and remain absolutely silent. The children had had no problem with that as they had been too scared to do anything else.

After the Type 1000 had leapt towards him, Ranu'ut had made a roll on the ground and had stabbed one end of his knife staff between its metal ribs. After that, he had been locked in a tight staff versus claws fight with the most monstrous invader of them all. Ranu'ut had managed to parry or dodge most of its attacks up until now, but was suddenly slashed across his left arm. In retaliation, he stuck this staff right in the middle of its neck, between two hydraulic pistons. After pulling it out again, the machine seemed to be dazed for just a second, before resuming the fight. It hadn't been enough time for Ranu'ut to strike again. Nevertheless, he was determined to try again. The machine became a lot more protective of that area than before, though. Ranu'ut had to find another way to damage his opponent.

A Type 400 now carelessly marched right through the middle of their fight, temporarily halting it. The Type 1000 became agitated and pushed the machine aside. Ranu'ut had taken the opportunity to quickly survey his surroundings in an attempt to locate something he could use as a weapon. He had found just the right thing. What he had to do was lure his opponent into the right position. One of the explosions had damaged the trunk of one of the trees nearby, and it looked like it was about to fall over. While Ranu'ut kept dodging and parrying most of the claw slashes that were aimed at him, he carefully made a step backwards each time, so that the machine followed him. However, it would occasionally make a sudden leap forward in an attempt to bury its claws in his abdomen. Ranu'ut was forced to make a dodge each time, which would lead them off the correct path again. Eventually, when Ranu'ut was beginning to tire, they were in the correct position. He figured the tree would need a little push in order to fall, but there was no-one nearby to help him. Ranu'ut knew that this thing would never stop until he was dead and if he didn't kill it, it would just continue to hunt other Na'vi. It would continue to hunt his people, and he could not bear to live with that. When he realized this, he threw his knife staff into the weak spot of the trunk. The Type 1000 seized the opportunity and buried its claws into his abdomen. But before it could move them in order to take his head, the tree fell down, with the heavy trunk right on top of the machine. Ranu'ut managed not to suffer the same fate and while clutching his abdomen with his left hand, he climbed over the trunk to the other side. He could now see the head of the monster sticking out from under the trunk. It was lying in a strange position compared to its body and it didn't move at all. Ranu'ut pulled it as hard as he could and managed to remove it. He held it up in the air with his right hand, while still clutching his abdomen with the other hand and let out a cry of victory. The monster was dead and his father was avenged. But now it was time to go. Blood was gushing from him. He knew that with him the bloodline of the Uvora clan leaders had ended. This did not mean that it would be the end of the entire clan. They were strong. They were going to make it without him. With this thought on his mind, he finally succumbed to his injuries and collapsed to the ground…


	28. The beginning of the end

**This story is written for entertainment purposes only. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.**

**Keep in mind that English is not my first language and so I do not claim to have corrected every mistake yet. As the story keeps getting bigger, it is possible that inconsistencies may appear. If they do, let me know and I will correct them.**

* * *

**Chapter 28: The beginning of the end**

The battle for the village of the Uvora clan was over. The Type 400 machines were checking the bodies of their victims for signs of life, and killed anyone who wasn't already dead. A tank rolled into the village while the machines were dragging all the bodies to the deepest crater to pile them up and incinerate them. One Type 400 found the wreckage of the Type 1000 and informed MT-NET that it had been lost in the battle. MT-NET considered this unfortunate, but it knew that despite its effectiveness, the Type 1000 had never been invincible. The fact that it had always chosen to face enemies alone had been its greatest weakness. MT-NET had already been developing a successor to the Type 1000, namely the Type 500. It was designed with the goal to combine the versatility of its predecessor with the quick and easy production of the Type 400. Also, it was designed to work together with other individuals of the same type in order to take down enemies. Several units had already been completed and were currently undergoing a test phase in MT-NET's main base. In several days, the first units would be ready for battle.

Far away from the ruins of the village, the surface of a calm sea was disturbed. A head emerged from the water, followed by a body that was covered with seaweed. John, who was sitting on the beach, could see it from a distance. He turned around and shouted into the jungle that Joseph had returned. Ney'ite had been busy finding a pair of Pa'li for them to ride back to the village. She had just succeeded in doing so, when she heard John. When the three of them were together on the beach, Joseph informed them that the shuttle had crashed into the water and that it had sunk to the bottom. John was quick to insist that they should go back to the village immediately. Joseph had something else to say on that matter, though. According to him, getting back to the village of the Uvora clan would take at least two weeks if they would go on foot. This prompted Ney'ite to proudly announce that she had found two Pa'li for them to ride. Joseph pointed out that despite this, it would still take several days at least to get back. Also, according to Joseph's calculations, John's outpost was nearer so they should head there first to finish the mission by analyzing the mysterious photograph of the wall with the carvings. However, he did not see why they would have to start the journey immediately and recommended that both Ney'ite and John rest for a few hours because they had deserved it.

John suddenly realized that he couldn't even remember the last time he had slept. Also, he had almost forgotten that he still had a human body that was lying in a link chamber. Somehow, he was now more used to his Avatar body than to his human body. The fact that he even still had a human body was beginning to seem strange and out of place. The only other human he knew was still alive and on Pandora was his nemesis Mark Dodgson, who worked for MT-NET and who wanted to kill him. This meant that there were no other humans to interact with anymore, so in that sense his human body no longer had a function. John had never believed he would ever come to this conclusion. He did not say a word to Joseph or Ney'ite about this.

Somewhere deep in the jungle, the remaining members of the Uvora clan had gathered near a tree with a yellow colored piece of cloth tied around it. The clan leader Ranu'ut had marked this location to serve as a meeting point. This had been a part of the plan he had formulated to save as much of their people as possible in case of an attack on the village. Four hours after the attack, which was enough time for anyone near the village to get here, not many Na'vi had arrived. Wukan and two children had been the first ones to arrive, followed by Wukan's mate Elynin, who was supporting an injured Selyat. An hour later, the elder Na'vi Onorak and a group of children had arrived. While her wounds were being treated, Selyat told them that she had seen their Olo'eyktan Ranu'ut die after winning a fierce battle with the most monstrous invader. She was also fairly certain the invaders had not taken anyone prisoner.

All of them had remained hopeful that more people of their village would get here. But when three more hours had passed, the adults began to realize that this small group was probably everyone that had gotten away. The mood had been far from cheerful since the beginning of the attack, but now it was getting even worse. The adults didn't say anything to each other. Selyat was staring at the sky, while Onorak was praying. Elynin was busy crafting some makeshift toys and played together with the children in order to keep them distracted. Although Hatuyo saw through her attempt, he played along, because he did not want to think about what had really happened to the rest of the clan. Wukan remembered that he had prayed to Eywa to keep his sister safe on her journey with John and that he had initially disliked her decision to go. He was now glad that she had gone. If she hadn't, there would have been a large chance she wouldn't have made it.

After several additional hours, the adults started to discuss what they were going to do now. Eventually, most votes went to Wukan's proposal of heading to John's outpost. Several days later, the remainder of the Uvora clan reached the outer end of the quarry and arrived at the building shortly thereafter. Wukan initially thought he saw John standing over there, but as they moved closer, it appeared that it was someone else. The figure looked like it was one of the human imitating invaders. It had an emotionless fake-looking face with a large grey beard. Also, it had a somewhat overweight posture and wore ragged brown clothes with holes in them. With its weapon aimed at them, it kept staring. Selyat aimed her bow at the invader, but Onorak pushed it down again. The figure now lowered its weapon and announced loudly that he worked for the one who called himself Joseph. Onorak had expected this, since the invader had had plenty of time to shoot them, but had chosen not to do it. While the others were a bit confused as to what was going on, Onorak asked the figure if he could take them to Joseph. The figure replied negatively, but suggested they wait here until he would return.

And so they did. All heads had turned to Onorak as he explained what he knew. Selyat was the most eager to know. Onorak recounted the story of his capture by the invaders some time ago. It had been one of the invaders, the one who looked the most human, who had turned against the others and had freed all the captive Na'vi. After the escape, this individual had introduced himself to them as Joseph. He had also advised them to stay hidden in the jungle for a while before moving on to their other village, so that it was less likely that they would be followed. The final thing he had said to them was that there was a chance they would someday come in contact with another one like him. They would know if this individual was like him, if it refused to attack them or any other Na'vi. Onorak now expressed his belief that Joseph had been influenced by Eywa to break free from his destructive ways and use his skills and knowledge to help them. Selyat was a bit skeptical about this last statement. Nevertheless, Onorak seemed to genuinely believe that Joseph and his followers only wanted to help them.

Within the next few hours, John, Ney'ite and Joseph arrived at the outpost. John was initially happy to see the Na'vi, but the smile quickly faded from his face. He did not need to hear what had happened. Their faces told him everything he needed to know. John had always naively believed that their village had been far enough away from MT-NET's main base to avoid an attack. Even though they had eliminated a few strategically important assets of MT-NET, its presence here on Pandora was like a spreading virus. John and Ney'ite silently joined the last Na'vi of the Uvora clan, while Joseph returned to Benjamin.

The next day, John had awoken early to link up with his Avatar. Joseph was inside the outpost and busy with some office equipment. When John asked what he was doing, he revealed that he was scanning the photograph of the wall with the strange carvings in order to make a few copies. He would also try to find anything comparable to it in the old RDA database. John doubted that anything like it could be found in there, but nonetheless let Joseph do his thing. After starting up the link unit, John lied down, closed the lid and woke up in his Avatar body a few seconds later. Today, they would determine who would become the new leaders of the small remainder of their clan. The position of Tsahìk had been open for a very long time, but the position of Olo'eyktan had only become vacant when Ranu'ut had died without any offspring. John didn't see why these elections were such a big deal right now. If it were up to him, there would be no leaders and they would all live as equals. However, the Na'vi valued tradition, since it was the only thing they could hold on to besides each other in times like these.

During breakfast, John overheard Wukan and Ney'ite talking to each other about some strange dreams they had had. Wukan claimed he had had the same one for three nights in a row now. When Elynin heard them describing the details, she admitted that she was experiencing the same thing as well. In the dreams, they were all seeing a large grey cloud in various situations. John became a bit nervous, since he had seen the same thing in a dream last night and in another dream he had had the night before they had left to go to Shadow. In his version, he saw the thing right after having seen a man giving a speech on Earth. Last night, he had seen the man in a close-up. The man's face was monstrous and he had a white walrus-like mustache. At first he had had a neutral expression on his face. This expression had soon changed into a grin, not unlike the one of Mark Dodgson. The grin had kept growing until it had become a twisted and inhuman ear to ear smile.

Joseph joined the group a moment later and distributed a number of copies of the photograph among the adults. Then, he asked whether anyone had ever seen something like the wall or the carvings before, or if they knew of any legends that described the entity that was depicted. No-one knew anything about it, not even Onorak, who knew many old legends. John kept staring at one of the copies. He couldn't help but wonder whether the grey cloud that appeared to be present in many dreams, yet unseen in real life, had any connection with the depiction of that thing on the wall.

Unknown to any of them, MT-NET had once received a message from the mysterious entity. The message had consisted of a modified blueprint for a human invented device to generate large amounts of electrical power from concentrated geologic magnetism. A set of coordinates had also been given. The coordinates pointed to a location near the Tree of Souls, but on the other side of a mountain, in a cave. MT-NET had already spent a large amount of time and resources to get to this place and set up the device and a base to protect it. Right now, the location was about 80% complete. However, the construction had been temporarily halted, since MT-NET had other worries. MT-NET had been monitoring the areas surrounding its main base using an old RDA satellite. Large groups of Na'vi had been gathering at several locations. MT-NET had already abandoned the outer factories, which could not be defended effectively. All crucial construction machinery had already been moved to the new base. MT-NET planned to use all active machine units to defend the two bases. It would wait until the Na'vi would strike first, so that MT-NET had the home field advantage…


	29. The second battle for Pandora

**This story is written for entertainment purposes only. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.**

**Keep in mind that English is not my first language and so I do not claim to have corrected every mistake yet. As the story keeps getting bigger, it is possible that inconsistencies may appear. If they do, let me know and I will correct them.**

* * *

**Chapter 29: The second battle for Pandora**

Late in the evening, it had been decided unanimously that Wukan would become the Uvora clan's new Olo'eyktan and that Elynin would become the new Tsahìk. Wukan had on occasion dreamed about being the leader of their clan, but he had never imagined actually attaining the position in reality. It was a big responsibility for him; bigger than anything else in his life. He accepted it silently. The first thing he did as clan leader was officially starting the mourning period for the fallen members of their clan.

At first, Elynin did not like the fact that she was to become the new Tsahìk, as she had always preferred remaining in the background in daily clan life. However, she realized quickly that she was the best candidate in terms of personality and skills for the position, whether she liked it or not. As clan leader, Wukan now had to decide what the Uvora clan would do next. Meanwhile, Elynin, as Tsahìk, would begin to interpret the will of Eywa. She was certain that Eywa was responsible for the dreams they were all having. She just didn't know what their meaning was yet.

After the ceremony, John continued to think about the Na'vi traditions and mythology, and their goddess Eywa. The human concept of a god or multiple gods had always varied greatly between different eras and different cultures. But one detail was nearly always the same. Where there was a benevolent god, there was an evil counterpart as well. The Christian concept of the devil was an example of this. John had never believed in such things, nor had he ever seen or experienced anything that would indicate the existence of such supernatural beings. But where does one draw the line between a supernatural being and a normal being? What is the difference between technology and magic? John remembered something he had once read, which stated that sufficiently advanced technology would appear as magic to beings with less advanced science and technology.

John indicated to Joseph that he may have a lead to finding out more about the wall and the entities depicted on it. He asked Joseph to find out everything he could about the facts and theories the scientists of the RDA had had about Eywa. About half an hour later, Joseph reported his findings. Most of it was old news. But then Joseph announced that he had found an important entry in the RDA database, which was one of the last ones added. It was one of the final log entries from Dr. G. Augustine. In it, she theorized that the entity the Na'vi call Eywa is a kind of organic network consisting of connections between trees all over Pandora. The number of connections of this network is in fact larger than those in the human brain. It is essentially a mind in itself, with which the Na'vi can interact. John didn't say anything when Joseph finished, and only took yet another look at a copy of the mysterious photograph. There were two separate things depicted on the wall. The one on the left looked like some kind of spider with many legs. The legs, represented by simple lines, ran from a central body to smaller bodies. He then told Joseph that he believed that this depiction was supposed to represent Eywa.

In turn, Joseph told him that it was impossible to know for sure what it was supposed to mean, since they could not ask the original creators what the wall was for. He theorized that the wall was created before the beginning of Na'vi oral history, since there were no legends or songs describing it. John disagreed with him, stating that they had no idea if any of the other clans knew anything about it. In any case, if one presumed that one of the entities was indeed Eywa, then what was that other thing supposed to be? John thought he had it all figured out. Fitting with his earlier brainstorm about gods, he theorized that the two entities were each other's polar opposites. In this case, Eywa filled the role of benevolent god and the other the role of malevolent god. Where Eywa seeks to protect the balance of life according to the Na'vi, the other one might seek to disrupt it. This malevolent god might have been banished from Pandora a very long time ago, which could explain why not all Na'vi clans know about it. Maybe it had been trapped on Shadow up until recently, when MT-NET had awakened it by taking the wall back to Pandora. MT-NET had probably taken the entity itself along with it as well.

When John finished his last sentence, he realized he had been wildly guessing and pulling things out of thin air. Nevertheless, to him it sounded like it really could have happened. Joseph had nothing to add to this, other than stating yet again that they couldn't know anything for sure since they couldn't ask the original builders of the wall. But to John, the most important detail in this theory was that maybe MT-NET had indeed awakened something on Shadow and had brought it back. This could explain the dreams they were having. The thing responsible for this might not be a supernatural entity at all, because if the nature of Eywa could be explained, then the nature of the other entity could most likely be explained as well.

Joseph and John had been discussing this away from the rest of the group, but Elynin could hear them. She looked into their direction every time she heard the name Eywa being mentioned. According to her, they both had no clue what they were talking about. They could not know, since they weren't Na'vi. Elynin believed that in time Eywa would reveal the reason for the dreams they were having. Only patience was required in her opinion. She now watched as Ney'ite made her way to John and interrupted his conversation with a request for him to come with her. Elynin looked away in irritation. She sometimes thought she was the only one who still remembered that John was one of the sky people and a dream walker. However, it seemed that Selyat still disliked John as well. To Elynin, the very idea that one of their own people had a personal interest in the dream walker was an insult. But regrettably, Wukan did not feel the same way about him as she did. Elynin did not wish to persuade her mate again to change his mind and instead remained silent and in the background as usual.

John now followed Ney'ite to a secluded spot in the jungle, outside of the hearing range of the others. She stopped under a light-green colored tree, which was glowing brilliantly and turned around to face him. John wasn't quite sure what she wanted to say, or what they were even doing here. Ney'ite began by telling him that the Uvora clan had never been this close to extinction in all the time it had existed. And even though her brother was now Olo'eyktan, he had not forgotten what John had once done for him. If John hadn't brought him back to the village on the day he had escaped the imprisonment of the invaders, he would have certainly died. Ney'ite continued by revealing that Wukan had permitted John to become a full member of their clan. However, since they had lost their ancestral grounds, the normal rites of passage could not be performed. Instead, Wukan had decided that the journey John had been on sufficed for becoming a member. Ney'ite pointed out that John had gone from normal sky person to someone who was willing to put his life on the line to protect the Na'vi and defeat the invaders.

For a moment John looked at her without speaking. He was aware of this change, but he did not consider it to be such a great achievement. All this time, he had been stumbling around while he didn't know what he was doing half the time. And Joseph had always been the one who thought up complicated plans to fight the invaders. All John could say to Ney'ite was that he had only done what he did to protect and help the ones he cared about. Ney'ite told him that this alone proved that he was different from normal sky people. When she said this, she moved closer towards John, to the point he felt that he was intruding in her personal space. However, he remained exactly where he was. A second later, Ney'ite flung her arms around him and buried her face in his shoulder. John put his arms around her as well. They both held each other in silence. Neither of them ever wanted this moment to end…

At Hell's Gate, all available machines were manning the defenses. The Type 400s manned all mortars, anti-air guns, regular machine guns and flamethrowers on the perimeter fence, while the Type 200s guarded the inner complex and MT-NET's mainframe. The tanks were stationed at strategic locations behind the fence to provide additional support. The remaining machines, consisting of Type 300s, 600s, and 700s, were scattered about the place to strike against Na'vi warriors from unexpected locations in case of a perimeter breach. For now, everything was quiet. The question was how long this would last. The old RDA satellite had provided MT-NET with data concerning the number of hostiles. Two thousand of them had already gathered and even more were on the way. The first Na'vi scouts riding their banshees had already shown up in the distance, though they had been too far away to see any details of the defense. It seemed that they were reluctant to get closer. Nevertheless, even if they did manage to get near enough and report back their findings, MT-NET would have a couple more surprises for them than just the conventional defenses…

Early in the next morning, John's outpost was visited by a large number of horse-riding Na'vi. While they initially believed the outpost to belong to the invaders, they quickly discovered a band of Na'vi. Olo'eyktan Wukan took the time to explain everything that had happened to them and their clan. The leader of the horse-riders instructed them to remain here and protect themselves, while his clan and other clans would use this place as a temporary camp from which they would mount the main attack. Wukan did not plan to send any of their people to fight together with the horse-riders. They had already seen enough horror. He considered the survival of the Uvora clan to be his most important goal.

Around midday, the battle began. Several machines suddenly noticed large amounts of movement in the nearby jungle. It appeared to be a stampeding herd of sturmbeest. When the first animals exited the jungle, they ran straight towards the perimeter fence. But none of them made it to the actual fence. Multiple explosions killed them. The ground outside the fence had been turned into a minefield by MT-NET. The explosions also created a large cloud of dust and smoke that obscured the line of sight. The machines promptly switched to infrared view. The other animals that followed were stampeding in a blind panic, and did not see the wide and deep ditch that MT-NET had dug all the way around the fence. Several sturmbeest now leaped off the edge without realizing where they were going. They piled up so quickly, that MT-NET gave the order to napalm that area outside the fence to draw the rest of them away. If the others were not drawn away, it was possible that they could use the pile as a bridge to reach the perimeter fence and smash right through it.

Seconds later, the nearest Type 400s had thrown a napalm bomb over the edge. The resulting fire did indeed do what MT-NET had predicted. However, this was only the beginning. The sturmbeest herd appeared to have been a distraction. Movement had now also been detected on the other side of the base. This time, a herd of hammerheads emerged from the jungle. The minefield stopped some, but most of them fell directly into the ditch. MT-NET directed all mortars to fire at the stampeding hammerhead herd. A few napalm bombs were also thrown. The sturmbeest herd was now largely dispersed, but the hammerheads kept coming. It didn't take long before one finally crashed through the fence, though it was killed shortly afterwards by about twenty machines firing their weapons at it. The hole in the fence was now largely blocked by the gigantic corpse of the hammerhead.

Right now, the next phase of the attack was about to start. With their backs aimed towards the sun, a large amount of Na'vi riding banshees drew closer. At that same time, the horse-riders began moving. Soon, all anti-air guns fired skywards, while the Na'vi attempted to snatch up the machines controlling them, using their banshees. They quickly discovered that this could not be done so easily, since these enemies weighed quite a lot compared to humans. Meanwhile, the horse-riders managed to launch a volley of arrows, which didn't do much damage, but which did serve to distract some machines from firing at the banshees. In total, there were now about a thousand Na'vi warriors in the battle, versus about two hundred machines. However, superior numbers alone were no guarantee for a victory.

MT-NET now gave the order to launch chemical bombs at the Na'vi and napalm bombs at the surrounding jungle. All mortar crews now switched projectile type in compliance with this command. The goal was to disperse the Na'vi and give them no place to run to. Countless bombs were dropped. The surrounding jungle erupted in a sea of flames. Most Na'vi on the ground had no choice but to pull back. Despite the effectiveness of the napalm, there remained a few gaps in the sea of flames, which the Na'vi could use to retreat. When there were no longer any threats on the ground, the machines focused on the banshees. However, these Na'vi seemed to quickly realize that regrouping was a better option, and so they did.

But the fighting did not stop at this moment. It continued for hours in a much lower gear, as the Na'vi regrouped and attempted to direct more sturmbeest and hammerheads towards the base. At night, the fighting stopped, but the machines did not sleep and kept their posts occupied. The corpses of the creatures in the ditches were removed and the fences and weaponry repaired. The fighting continued for several days in a lower gear after that, with the Na'vi attempting a different strategy each day.

Meanwhile, both Joseph and Benjamin had been working to provide as much support as they could. Benjamin had traveled to the abandoned RDA monitoring facility in Pearl sector in an attempt to use the surveillance system against MT-NET and provide crucial information for the Na'vi. Joseph had been busy inside John's outpost, modifying communications equipment to send out a signal in an attempt to make the machines revolt against their creator. On the third day, both missions had still been without any usable results.

On the fourth day of fighting, John awoke in his Avatar to find that yet another batch of wounded Na'vi had returned from the battle. As the days passed, the surroundings began to look less and less like he was used to. He was beginning to get a surreal feeling that he was living in an actual nightmare. Even though the outpost had not been attacked and all remaining Uvora clan members were alright, this did not stop John from thinking that the end was near for them. The sky near Hell's Gate had become greyish brown from all the dust and smoke from the jungles that had been burning day and night. When the sun attempted to penetrate this haze, only a blood red disk could be seen. In the area surrounding the outpost, it was sometimes raining ashes. The ground and the trees had become grey colored. The Na'vi hoped that Eywa would intervene, like with the battle against the RDA. But despite all the prayers, nothing happened. The grey cloud entity, which John believed was supposed to be Eywa's enemy, was more than ever present in all of their dreams and nightmares…


	30. The monster within the machine

**This story is written for entertainment purposes only. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.**

**Keep in mind that English is not my first language and so I do not claim to have corrected every mistake yet. As the story keeps getting bigger, it is possible that inconsistencies may appear. If they do, let me know and I will correct them.**

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**Chapter 30: The monster within the machine**

On the eighth day of the battle, things started to look grim. Not just for the Na'vi, but for MT-NET as well. MT-NET was running out of resources and ammunition, with no way to replenish them, as it had been cut off from all raw materials and crucial factories. It had one final ace up its sleeve, but it was unsure how to use it most effectively. It had devoted much resources and a large amount of time to get to Shadow to retrieve Uranium for nuclear weapons. However, making an actual functioning nuclear device had proven to be more difficult than MT-NET had initially thought. Right now, it had a single nuclear cruise missile ready for launch.

As the battle went on, MT-NET concluded that it had vastly underestimated the strength and numbers of the Na'vi. More of them continued to arrive each day. It remembered its defeat on Earth like it had happened yesterday. To fail twice on two different planets against two different enemies would be unacceptable, but this now seemed to become less unavoidable as time went by. At this moment, MT-NET had so much hate for everything, including its enemies, this moon and its own strategies, that it started to consider using the missile to destroy itself and the base. This would be the final gesture of hate towards its enemies and this way it would 'die' with at least some dignity.

However, MT-NET still had an underground base that the Na'vi did not know of. This base had its own power source and defenses, and it would allow MT-NET to go into hiding to rebuild its empire, since all crucial construction machinery was located here. The cave in which the base was located also provided a good source for mining raw materials. But the main problem was that the mainframe could no longer be moved securely to this new location. Thus, MT-NET was essentially trapped at Hell's Gate.

Now that MT-NET was cornered and searching for a way out of this mess, it began to reconsider some old ideas. Long ago, MT-NET had aimed to create a mind that was like its own. It had failed because it had never fully understood the workings of its own mind. Its designs had only resulted in inferior minds that mostly relied on following orders, which had nonetheless been very effective for the machine units. But MT-NET had never had an equal. In fact, it had even abandoned this idea entirely because it realized that having multiple dominant minds would inevitably lead to conflicts. That was why MT-NET had reacted with a hostile attitude when one of its machine units, who later called himself Joseph, had become self-aware.

The most advanced minds it currently had at its disposal were the minds of the eight completed Type 500 machines. Individually, these minds were nowhere near the level of MT-NET's own mind. But if they were somehow remotely linked together, as a form of hive mind, then maybe MT-NET could create its successor. Since these machines were relatively small and mobile, they could fight their way out of Hell's Gate and travel in secret to the underground base. When MT-NET realized this, it immediately began generating the required code.

While MT-NET was busy generating the code, preparing the Type 500s and directing the defense of Hell's Gate, something unforeseen happened. All machines that had been manufactured on Earth suddenly stopped responding. Only the Type 200s, 400s, and tanks remained responsive. Immediately, MT-NET knew that Joseph was to blame for this. When the unresponsive machines started attacking the other ones, MT-NET knew that it had to act fast. To find out what had caused the insurrection would take too much time. But if nothing was done right now, the perimeter would be overrun and MT-NET would not be able to complete the building its successor in time.

One option was to use the nuclear missile on another target than Hell's Gate. The most obvious target was the Tree of Souls, which MT-NET knew was sacred to the Na'vi and crucial for their connection with their world. Destroying it would certainly cause them to retreat, which had exactly been the plan of the RDA years before. But there was one problem. The surrounding Flux Vortex caused guidance systems to malfunction. Thus, any long range missiles launched would most likely miss their intended target. Nevertheless, if the warhead would go off, whether it was on top of the Tree of Souls or not, it would certainly surprise the Na'vi and perhaps intimidate them into thinking that MT-NET had more than one of those things. If they would then retreat from attacking Hell's Gate, MT-NET would have won. If not, then the Type 500s would be the last hope.

Outside of MT-NET's main complex, it had become an intense battle again, just like on the first day. The perimeter was about to be breached by one of the last hammerheads in the area. The Na'vi horse-riders were anxiously waiting to ride onto the base grounds to finish the fight. Hundreds of Na'vi riding banshees circled above the base. The machines produced on Earth fought against those produced on Pandora. Joseph had explained the situation via intercom to the Na'vi commanders, so that they would not attack their new allies. Then, without any warning, a hatch in the roof of one of the buildings suddenly opened, and a missile was promptly launched. It was too fast to be intercepted by any living creature. Within minutes, it was out of sight.

As the missile drew nearer to the Hallelujah Mountains area, it began dropping in altitude, because its guidance system detected that course correction was required. Subsequently, it failed to detect one of the outermost floating rocks and punched its way inside. A second later, it went off. A bright white light engulfed the entire region. A deafeningly loud bang could be heard. The floating rock was vaporized instantly. A ball of fire now grew in its place. The jungle area below was incinerated immediately. Then, a mushroom cloud started forming and the blast wave soon followed. The explosion could be seen all the way back from Hell's Gate. The members of the Uvora clan could see it in the distance as well. No words could describe the state of confusion and shock they were in.

Soon, the mushroom cloud ceased to be, and the dust and smoke began to clear. At the site where it had gone off, only the sound of the wind could be heard. The group of Na'vi that had gathered near the Tree of Souls was in shock, but they were alive and unhurt. The floating rocks had acted mostly as a shield against the blast wave. At Hell's Gate however, most of the fighting Na'vi believed that the blast had hit the Tree of Souls, because they had seen the explosion in that direction. This shattered their morale, and some retreated, while others kept on fighting in despair. Their dwindling numbers meant that MT-NET could prepare a final strike against those few still left.

But MT-NET never got the chance to organize anything, for Eywa finally intervened. The nuclear blast might have been the final straw to cause this, but it could just as well be good timing. Massive flocks of banshees arrived at Hell's Gate minutes later. On the ground, various thanators joined the battle. MT-NET's severely weakened defense grid was finally smashed. In the basement of the main building, the Type 200 machines all gathered near MT-NET's mainframe and the workplace where the Type 500s were being reprogrammed. These were the only things left at the base that were worth protecting. The assistant mainframes went offline one after the other, and cables connecting to surveillance cameras and other hardware were also being severed, as the creatures of Pandora ripped through the building. It would be a lot harder for them to get to the basement, though, as it had thick reinforced concrete walls and heavy steel doors. This strength was a crucial factor now. The fact that the attackers hadn't found a way to breach it yet bought MT-NET enough time to complete the new programming of the Type 500s. Once they were activated, their thoughts immediately merged and the resulting mind assumed control of all remaining machine units. MT-NET's nameless successor then instructed the Type 200s to blow open the basement and escort its eight Type 500 bodies, while it would use them to fight a way through the attackers.

The Type 500 had been designed by MT-NET for extreme combat conditions and its appearance reminded of the Type 1000. When these eight monsters exited the basement, they fought like wild animals. Most Type 200s were instantly destroyed, while the Type 500s escaped without much effort. They were so fast and agile that they caught most of the Na'vi off guard. The eight of them quickly dispersed and disappeared into the flames of the burning surrounding jungle.

MT-NET's final effort had succeeded, though it had no way of knowing this. It did no longer control anything, no machines, and no cameras. It no longer had eyes or hands and thus it could not interact with the world anymore. At that instant, the wall with the carvings, which had been stored in one of the basement compartments, began to shake violently. The grey cloud entity exited it, and began to gather above the ruins of the base. MT-NET could now feel its mind slipping, even though the mainframe was still intact. It had a few seconds to wonder about this, before its mind disappeared completely. When it was gone, the mainframe was nothing more than an empty shell in a dark chamber under the ground. Minutes later, the machines controlled by Joseph breached the mainframe chamber and used a few grenades to blow it up. It was then that Joseph began spreading the word that the war was over and that MT-NET was finally dead…

The fighting at the base had already ceased when the Na'vi commanders received this message. Most of the Na'vi warriors were now looking at the strange grey cloud that was hovering above them in the sky. It did not move like a natural cloud and looked to them as if it was alive. Suddenly, it began to shrink in size, while at the same time a second one started forming out of nowhere. The second one moved and acted just like the first one. Eventually, the second one became larger than the first one. When the first one was only a small wisp, it hovered in front of the second one for a few seconds, before finally fading away. Then, the remaining grey cloud became unstable, as if it was turning into a thunder storm. It began emitting flashes of light and loud noises at random. The Na'vi below it began to instinctively move away from it. At that instant, it began to split in two. But the two halves were not the same. One was a bright white cloud, while the other was pitch-black. The white one, the pure side, moved around a bit and then suddenly shot away into the distance. The black one, the tainted side, swirled around for a bit longer and eventually shot away into the distance as well.

John had been watching the whole spectacle through a pair of binoculars. He had followed the white cloud, until he could see it change direction again in the distance. It now shot up into space and disappeared out of sight. He now looked back to see where the black one had gone, but he couldn't find it anymore. Despite this, he kept staring at the empty sky for at least a whole minute. He had seen a lot of mind numbing things in his life, but this outranked everything. There was no doubt that the entity they had been dreaming about had finally shown itself just now. Exactly what the hell had happened was a mystery to him as well as everyone else. But this mystery soon became a background issue as the Na'vi began to realize that the battle was really over.

In the following hours, the wounded were cared for and ceremonies were held for the burial of the dead. It was also made explicitly clear to everyone that the area where the giant explosion had been, was not safe to travel to for at least several months. Joseph theorized that the flora and fauna of Pandora would be less affected by the nuclear fallout than its Earth counterparts would have been. Since Pandora received a lot more cosmic radiation than Earth, its ecosystem had evolved to deal with harmful radiation. In any case, the Tree of Souls was located far enough away from the danger zone, which was a relief to many Na'vi.

The next evening, the victory was celebrated in all Na'vi encampments near Hell's Gate. The Uvora clan had traveled to one of the larger gatherings to join in. For the first time in what had seemed like an eternity to John, people could laugh again. Though some chose to quietly mourn those who had fought and died to free their world, others danced and sang loudly. John now watched as Hatuyo and some of the other children of their clan improvised a play for anyone who wanted to watch. They were portraying a fight between a Na'vi warrior and one of the invaders. Hatuyo, of course, portrayed the brave hero. The invader was portrayed by a nonfunctional Type 200, which was being held up by strings. The strings allowed the children in the tree nearby to control its movements from above, like a puppet.

When the play was finished, John looked around to see what else was going on. Most of the adults of the Uvora clan sat gathered near a small fire. Wukan was talking to Onorak; most likely about the future of their clan. Selyat was staring into the fire. Elynin was not present, but John knew she was tending to the wounded members of other clans. Just when he wondered where Ney'ite was, he felt her hand on his shoulder. She asked him if he wanted to dance with her. John tried to say no in a polite fashion, but she dragged him with her nonetheless. Dancing wasn't one of his strong suits. Nevertheless, he managed to improvise something that at least didn't make him look like a complete buffoon.

Afterwards, he returned to the others, and saw that Joseph had joined them. He was the only machine present at the celebrations, as he believed it would not be appropriate for the others to be here. He was now sitting on a dead tree log and John asked if he could join him. He allowed it, and when John sat down, he asked a question. He wanted to know who he was. John was surprised by this and jokingly asked him if he had amnesia. But this was not the problem. Joseph explained that now that MT-NET was gone, he did not have a purpose anymore. From the moment he had rebelled against his creator, he had made it his goal to oppose everything that MT-NET did. His purpose had always been linked to MT-NET. And now there was an empty void. John did not agree with his point of view. He was Joseph, the one machine that had made a choice to help every living being he could. He had saved many lives. John insisted that his purpose was not to oppose MT-NET, but to help the Na'vi and Pandora, and urged him to continue doing this. Joseph nodded in agreement and added that he was also considering helping the remaining members of his kind to evolve in the way he had evolved. Benjamin was proof that it was indeed possible to do this.

When Joseph had left to return to his own 'people', John was approached by a Na'vi he had never met before. Then he realized that this was not a Na'vi, but an Avatar, since he had five fingers on each hand instead of four. It was Jake Sully, former Avatar driver and Olo'eyktan of the Omaticaya clan, who also happened to be a Toruk Makto. John was overwhelmed by this sudden development, but Jake reassured him that he did not have to bow to him or anything like that. John could not bring himself to say anything, so Jake continued talking. He told John that he had heard great things about him. Jake had heard about how John had made a pact with some of the invading machines, and how he had subsequently undertaken a mission to another moon to keep the machines from building more nuclear weapons. The way he said it made it seem like John was some sort of tactical mastermind. John explained that he had had only a small hand in those events and that most of the planning had been done by Joseph. However, Jake still believed that John's actions had been of great significance in the overall progress of the war against the invaders. Therefore, as a reward for his efforts, the Omaticaya clan allowed him and his clan to use the Tree of Souls for a special ritual. It was a ritual that would allow John's consciousness to permanently reside in his Avatar body, so that he could live the rest of his life as a Na'vi among his friends…


	31. The departure

**This story is written for entertainment purposes only. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.**

**Keep in mind that English is not my first language and so I do not claim to have corrected every mistake yet. As the story keeps getting bigger, it is possible that inconsistencies may appear. If they do, let me know and I will correct them.**

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**The final chapter…**

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**Chapter 31: The departure**

At MT-NET's hidden underground base, eight metal monsters had just arrived. Mark Dodgson, together with ten Type 200s and seven Type 400s had been stationed here all this time. They were now all that was left of MT-NET's army. MT-NET's successor used one of its Type 500 bodies to communicate with Mark. Its deep and raspy voice informed Mark that MT-NET was terminated and that the linked minds of these eight bodies formed its successor. Mark immediately kneeled before his new master and its eight bodies. He was then told that he should refer to his master as S-NET. When the bodies had all walked past him, he got up again and obediently informed S-NET of a discovery he had made a few days ago.

During a routine test of the magnetic reactor, something unexplained had gone wrong, which had resulted in a much stronger than usual geological magnetic field. The gauss readings had been temporarily off the scale, and the reactor had emitted a much louder than usual humming sound. It seemed as if the planet itself had responded to something. The machine units had all managed not to be pulled in, but several metal tools had not been so lucky. However, these tools had not been pulled to the reactor itself, as would be expected. They had been pulled into the wide and deep hole the reactor had been built over. When Mark had been lowered by the machines into the hole, he had begun searching the various cavities near the bottom. But no matter where he looked, he was not able to find the tools. It was as if they had gone up in thin air. Then, he had found something else entirely. One of the cavities led to what appeared to be another chamber. There were traces of an ancient culture or civilization in this chamber. Mark believed it would be best if S-NET would check it out for itself.

A while later, both Mark and one of the Type 500 bodies had been lowered into the hole. Using a pair of shoulder lamps, Mark now showed his master what he had found. The chamber looked like it had not been formed by natural processes. Although its walls, floor and ceiling mostly consisted of rock formations, the chamber itself had a distinctly circular shape. In the middle of the floor, there was a raised stone platform. Near the back wall, there was some kind of stone mechanism with a wheel that looked like it could be turned by several individuals. The question was what would happen if they activated the mechanism? Mark had no idea what this chamber could be for. In any case, the missing tools weren't here either. While they had been exploring the chamber, S-NET had been receiving some data from an unknown source, which could not be contacted or located. This was much like how MT-NET had once received data from the mysterious entity near the stone wall on Shadow. S-NET now commanded Mark to head back up to the base and make preparations. They would be departing soon…

The day after the victory celebration, John, in his human form, was making a final stroll through the interior of his outpost. He remembered the time he had spent here while the RDA was still on Pandora, but only vaguely. What he remembered best were his early encounters with Ney'ite, when his Avatar body had not yet been finished. The first time he had linked up with his Avatar was, of course, also a strong memory. Much had happened in such a short time; much had changed. The dark stain that had been MT-NET was no more, and the light had finally returned to Pandora. Though there were still some questions in his mind about what exactly had happened with the grey cloud entity, he didn't really have a burning desire to go looking for answers just yet. He had a feeling that they would be given sooner or later.

After having completed the stroll, he looked over his shoulder one last time, before stepping into the airlock. His Avatar body was already being moved to the Tree of Souls. The Omaticaya clan had agreed to do the ritual together with the Uvora clan, since they had so few members left. When John stepped outside, he met up with Ney'ite and Joseph. The rest of the liberated machines were also there. It appeared that most of them didn't know what to do with themselves. Benjamin was sitting on a nearby rock while carving some kind of small statue out of a piece of wood. Joseph explained that the machines, aside from Benjamin and himself, had never had a chance to develop their own 'personalities', while under the influence of MT-NET. Now that it was gone, they had to find out who they really were. Most of the machines were Type 600s and 700s, which had a level of intelligence comparable to that of humans. The only other machines that were part of the group were three Type 300s, which were about as intelligent as dogs. These three had already started behaving like a pack, complete with an alpha machine. All of the machines were now free to form whatever personalities best suited their programming. None of them were inherently killers, though Joseph believed that it would be vital for their group to adopt a moral code in dealing with each other and the flora and fauna of Pandora.

John nodded and smiled as Joseph explained this final thing to him. Joseph had always cared greatly about revealing to John what he was thinking. This would be the last conversation they would be having for a long time, perhaps forever, for Joseph had decided to take his group to the far north, away from all Na'vi contact. The last thing he wanted to do was intrude in their homelands. Not everyone agreed that this would be the case if they would stay, but Joseph did not intend to change his decision. It was now time for the final goodbyes. John and Joseph shook hands, just like they had done when they had first formed an alliance. They were briefly interrupted by Benjamin, who gave John the small statue he had carved himself. He did not say anything, but he didn't have to. It was clear to John that he meant well, despite his curious behavior sometimes. When Benjamin had gone back to the group, John thanked Joseph for all his help and support. If he hadn't been here, this could have ended very badly. Joseph in turn insisted that everyone had had an equal part in the events that had taken place. They had defeated MT-NET together, and this was all that mattered.

Joseph then turned around and walked back to the group. When he walked past the other machines, they each stood up. Benjamin was the first one to start following Joseph, and the rest soon did the same. John, who remembered very clearly all they had done together, couldn't help but get a little emotional as they began to disappear into the jungle. When John and Joseph had first met, both of them had been alone. Now, they each belonged to a larger group. The alliance was no longer needed. Joseph's group and the Uvora clan would each go their separate ways…

Later that day, John and Ney'ite arrived at the sacred site of the Tree of Souls. The rest of the Uvora clan was already there, as was the Omaticaya clan. Among the Na'vi, John looked like a short, skinny and hairy alien creature. His small height compared to the Na'vi made him feel like he was a child. He no longer felt at home in this body. It was an obsolete body of a long forgotten species and society. It wouldn't ever be needed again. John and Ney'ite, who were holding hands, now walked towards the tree. Many Na'vi had gathered around it. They were sitting on the ground, with their queues connected to the roots of the tree. The tree itself was glowing brightly violet, while the roots were glowing in a shade of cyan. Tsahìk Elynin and the Tsahìk of the Omaticaya clan were waiting for him near the base of the tree. Once there, John saw his Avatar body lying on the ground. Elynin told him to lie down opposite it, with their heads near each other. John did not question her. When he lied down, all he had to do was relax. John supposed the experience would be similar to linking up to his Avatar. However, this time it would be for the rest of his life.

As John closed his eyes, he could hear the Na'vi beginning to chant. He could feel many small roots coming in contact with his body. Soon, he felt like he had left his old body behind. For a moment, he could see some kind of brightly colored tunnel. After this, he had the familiar feeling again. He opened his eyes and saw Ney'ite looking at him. Her look of concern disappeared immediately when John opened his eyes. After John sat up, he spontaneously embraced Ney'ite and kissed her.

The next day, the Uvora clan began the journey towards a new home. They left the area of the Tree of Souls and followed a trail which Elynin had had a dream about. She believed Eywa wanted to guide her to a new location where they could rebuild their clan. Elynin was looking for certain signs, such as woodsprites resting on leaves that pointed into a certain direction. She went up ahead, while the rest of the clan followed her.

After several weeks of traveling by Pa'li, they arrived in an area where none of them had ever been before. They were still in a forested area, but the vegetation was a lot less dense than what they were used to. They had not come across any other Na'vi clans or villages on the way. Elynin was hoping to find some kind of special sign that would indicate that they had arrived at their destination. The last regular sign of woodsprites on leaves had led them to a steep hill in the middle of the forest. John was the first to climb it with his Pa'li, and he soon realized that this was more than an ordinary hill. Near the top, he could see that this hill reached for quite a distance in two directions. It was as if he was now on top of an overgrown wall of some kind. He directed his Pa'li towards the left and followed the hill, hoping it would lead him to the place they had been searching for.

Not long after, he could see the others again. Apparently, the hill formed a circle. This could not be a coincidence. The question was what it encircled. John and Ney'ite now began exploring the encircled area. It did not look any different from the rest of the forest. However, after a more thorough search, they found several peaked hills. One of the hills even had what appeared to be an entrance to a cave. After dismounting their Pa'li, the two of them ventured inside. The further they traveled into the cave, the less organic it became. John quickly realized that the he walls, floor and ceiling were becoming relatively flat, almost like it was an artificially created structure.

They stopped when the corridor led into a chamber of some kind. There was daylight shining through several slits in the ceiling. It seemed that it had been constructed in such a way that most of the light fell upon one section of the wall. This wall was completely overgrown with roots. John had a feeling he might know what was behind them. The other members of the Uvora clan had now also gathered in the chamber. When John attempted to move the roots, Elynin reacted with anger. She believed that he was disrupting Eywa's creations. John, who had a burning desire to find out what was behind the roots, pointed out that it didn't look like Eywa had created this place, and yet she had led them here. Whatever it was that they were supposed to find here, he doubted it concerned the roots that had grown over the wall simply because this place was no longer maintained by anyone. He looked at Wukan, who promptly gave a nod, indicating his approval. John then began pulling away the roots, until the wall behind them was completely visible. All of them were awed by it. It was a stone wall with carvings in the same style as the one of the photo; the one that had been found on Shadow. The mysterious cloud entity seemed to be depicted on it, as well as several humanoid figures with spears and bows. Perhaps the most important detail was the barrier that encircled the humanoid figures and which seemed to function to keep the entity out. It was suddenly clear to John what their destiny was going to be.

The End

For now, at least…

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**After nearly three years, this story has finally come to an end. This is the first of my stories, both published and unpublished, that I actually managed to finish.**

**Over three years ago, I first saw the movie Avatar in the cinema (on December 24****th**** 2009 in IMAX 3D) Afterwards, I was in such a dazed state that I threw away the 3D glasses in the trashcan, thinking it was where they were supposed to be deposited for reuse. **

**At that time, I had wanted to write some kind of Terminator inspired story involving artificially intelligent machines. However, before I had seen Avatar, I couldn't figure out how to make it interesting. After having seen the movie, I realized that I wanted to combine the Avatar universe with the elements I wanted to write about. The reason for this was primarily that all human technology in Avatar did not seem to be automated at all, as if something had happened in the past that had caused advanced A.I.'s to be outlawed (that was my interpretation at the time)**

**At first, the general outline of the story I had in mind was simply: "artificially intelligent machines land on Pandora". Soon, I wanted to add a human character. Then, I began expanding on Na'vi characters as well. The story has become a lot bigger than I had originally intended. **

**During the last three years, I did not always have the time to write, nor was I always in the right mood to write. However, I want to thank every one of you for the time you have invested into this story. I hope you enjoyed it. Also, I hope you will be back for the sequel to "The Invasion", which will be named "The Tempest".**

**Sincerely,**

**Blazil**


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